GENERAL BACKGROUND STUDY and HISTORICAL BASE MAP Assateague Island National Seashore Maryland - Virginia By EDWIN C. BEARSS
DIVISION OF HISTORY Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation December 18, 1968 ational Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior BASIC DATA STUDY
HISTORY
Assateague Island National Seashore
December 31, 1968
Prepared by Edwin c. Bearss
Approved by •oooo•••OOOOO• Regional Director, NE
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Table of Contents •• $ 0 0 i
0 0 List of Maps and Illustrations Q • 0 0 0 0 ii
Foreword iii
Chapter I Geographic Setting 1
Chapte.c lI Giovanni ca Verrazzano and Assateague • • 3
Chapter III First Settlements • • • • 7
Chapter IV The Pasturage of Horses and Cattle 0 • 18
Chapter v Inlets 0 0 25
Chapter VI The Life-Saving Service and United States Coast
Guard • • • • • 0 34
Chapter VII Assateague Light 48
Chapter VIII German Submarines off Assateague • 59
Chapter IX Villages and Communities 0 80
Chapter X Economic Activities Other Than Livestock Raising and Hunting • • • • • • • • 91
Chapter XI The Extension of the Hook at Toms Cove . . . • 98
Chapter XII Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge •• • 0 0 100
Chapter XIII Assateague Island National Seashore •• 0 0 101
Appendix A Reports of Assistance • • • 0 0 0 0 0 • 102
Appendix B Vessels Destroyed by U-151 • 0 0 128
Appendix C List of Classified Structures • 0 • 131
Appendix D Land Classification •• • 134
Bibliography 000000000 0 0 136
i LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE Following Bibliography
I Historical Base Map--Assateague National Seashore
II North Beach Coast Guard Station
III Crew of Pope's Island Life-Saving Station
IV Front Elevation of Pope's Island Coast Guard Station
V West Elevation of Boathouse & Kitchen of Pope's Island Coast Guard Station
VI Crew of Assateague Beach Life-Saving Station
VII Assateague Light
VIII Wharf at the Seaboard Oil & Guano Company
IX Oil Tanks at the Seaboard Oil & Guano Company
X Employees & Structures of Seaboard Oil & Guano Company
XI Seaboard Oil & Guano Company
XII Keeper's Quarters, Assateague Light
XIII Assateague Village Schoolhouse
ii FORE\.\DRD
This report has been prepared to satisfy the research needs
as enumerated in RSP-H-1, General Historical Survey and Historical
Base Map, Assateague Island National Seashore. The area's historic
sites have been identified, evaluated, and plotted on the His-
torical Base Mapo Structures that are to appear on the List of
Classified Structures have been identified, as well as the lands
and resources to be designated Class VI in the Land Classification
Plan.
A number of persons have assisted in the preparation of this
report. Particular thanks are due Superintendent Bertrum Roberts
and the following members of his staff: Miss Lynn McGrath,
Gordon Noreau, John Hunter, and Gunner Guardipee. Information
secured from long-time residents of the area: Judge Walter Price
and Ralph Watson of Snow Hill; Mrs. Addie Carey, Mrs. Indiana
Henry, and James Quillen of Berlin; and Miss Melvina Shepherd
and Norman Jones of Chincoteague was of great assistance.
Dr. Reginald Truitt of Stevensville, Maryland, was also helpfulo
I wish to extend special recognition to William B. Marye of
Baltimore. Besides having prepared the best single article on
iii the area, "The Seacoast of Maryland," published in the Maryland
Historical Magazine, Mr. Marye has cheerfully shared with me his vast knowledge of Assateague Island and has made a number of trips to the Maryland Hall of Records to secure data on the original land grants. To Frank Sarles I wish to extend thanks for proof- reading the final draft; to James Sheire my appreciation for trans_,,, ~~ng the logs of the German submarines lHl 7 and £::1_51; and to F. Ross Holland for his suggestions as to source materials for the chapter dealing with Assateague Light. Finally, I wish to thank Mrs. Sarah Smith for the many hours she put in typing the manuscript.
E. C. B.
Washington, D. C. December 18, 1968
iv CHAPTER I
Geographic Setting
The Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay embraces three main
physiographic regions: (a) the mainland, (b) the coastal is-
lands, and (c) the marshes. Of these, Assateague Island
National Seashore includes only one: the coastal islands.
These islands, low and sandy, occur as a chain along the
Atlantic Ocean, paralleling the area throughout its length,
and varying from one and one-half to eight miles in distance
from the mainland. The islands, bars which vary in width
from several hundred feet to about one-half mile, form an
almost continuous barrier, broken only by narrow inlets leading
into bays, channels, and salt marshes lying between them
and the mainland. 1
Today Assateague Island extends 36 miles from Ocean
City Inlet in the north to Chincoteague Inlet in the south.
In the past the island was divided into several barrier is-
lands by inlets, but at present these are all closed.
Assateague Island is separated from the mainland by Sinepuxent
1. The Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia, Charles So Clark (ed.), 3 volso (New York, 1950), ~' 30.
1 Bay in the north and Chincoteague Bay in the south. Assateague
Channel and Assateague Bay separate the southwestern portion
of the island from Chincoteague Island. Assateague, as well
as the other coastal islands, possesses many sand dunes which'
are often shifted and altered by the winds. These dunes are
seldom more than ten or 15 feet in height. On the landward
side .)~ tne island there is a belt of salt marsh. 2
-. 2. Ibid., 33. The dune sand is composed of shifting, incoherent sand built up into dunes by wind action. Ibid., 36. I
#### ## #
2 CHAPTER II
Giovanni de..Verrazzano and Assateague
The first Europeans to set foot on the Eastern Shore of
Chesapeake Bay belonged to the crew of Dauphine commanded by
Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine navigator in the service
of King Francis I of Franceo In 1523 at Dieppe, France,
Verrazzano outfitted Dauphine and shipped a 50-man crew.
Leaving the Madeira Islands on January 17, 1524, the ship
made her first landfall on March 7 in latitude 34°, near
Cape Fearo Crusing the coast east and north, Verrazzano mis-
took the North Carolina outer banks for an isthmus, separating J the Atlantic Ocean from a supposed Oriental Sea. He now coasted northward about 50 leagues, to where he came "to
another land which appeared much more beautiful and full of
the largest forests." Here he put ashore a landing party
of 20 men, who penetrated eight miles inland. 1 After remaining
off the coast for three days, Dauphine resumed her run up
the coast as far as 50° latitudeo
lo Harry Fo Covington, "The Discovery of Maryland or
Verrazzano's Visit to the Eastern Shore1 " Maryland Historical Magazine, 10, No. 3, 204-205.
3 Nothing in Verrazzano's descriptions of Arcadia, as he
called the area, discloses the point where the landing party
from Dauphine came ashore. But inasmuch as the landing party
went inland eight miles without encountering Chesapeake Bay,
it may be inferred that the point of disembarkation was well
to the north of Cape Charles. Harry F. Covington, who made
an ext,c1ustive study of the subject, has concluded that
Verrazzano "may have sailed into Assateague Bay through the
southern opening, known to us as Chincoteague 'inlet;' here
lay at anchor; and then departed by way of the opening off
Sinepuxent Neck." If he had cruised the coast of Assateague
Island, it would have been impossible for him to have observed I the wooded mainland across the intervening spit and bay, seven miles across. Above Sinepuxent Neck, however, the bay narrows,
and the wooded mainland is visible from the sea. Covington
concluded that in all probability Verrazzano 11 landed at the
lower end of Assateague Bay, somewhere opposite Chincoteague
Island, and then passed throµgh the bay, and also landed at
the upper end of the bay on Sinepuxent Neck. 112
Verrazzano, on going ashore in the new-found land, sighted
a naked Indian youth, his hair "fastened in a knot," who
on seeing the white men, appeared terrified and "stood
2. Ibid., 207-211.
4 hesitating and ready for flight." As a gesture of friendship,
he lifted a burning torch "as if to offer us a fire.'' A shot
inadvertentlyfired into the air by one of the explorers panicked
the Indian, who fled into the woods. The landing party
determined to follow in hopes of locating an Indian village.
After they had proceeded about eight miles, they found their
way impeded by the swamps of the upper Pocomoke River.
Nowhere were any signs of human habitations to be seen.
Finally, a squaw and a young girl were sighted, each carrying
three small children on their backs. One of the children
was seized and taken back to Dauphine.
When he filed his report of his voyage of discovery on I his return to France, Verrazzano reported that the Indians of the region were lighter in color than those previously - encountered, and they used mossy foliage (apparently collected from the cypress trees along the Pocomoke) as clothing. They
subsisted on "pulseH or wild peas, and by hunting and fishing.
As the area was barren of rocks and metals, the Indians used
arrows with shafts of reeds and tipped with sharpened animal
and fish bones. Their boats were large dugouts, hollowed 3 out with fire.
3. Ibid., 211-212; Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia, .!_, 5-6.
5 Site Evaluation and Recommendations
Although Verrazzano navigated Chincoteague Inlet,
Chincoteague Bay, and Sinepuxent Bay, he did not land on
Assateague Island. Consequently, the Verrazzano story cannot
be tied to any specific site on the island, and will have to
be interpreted to the public in the Visitor Center.
#### ### # I
6 CHAPTER III
First Settlements
A. In Virginia
The lower peninsula, called Accawmacke by the Indians
of the Eastern Shore, was first settled by whites in 1614,
and in the early years of the 17th Century Crown messages
were sent, 11 To our faithful subjects of ye Colonie of Virginia
and ye Kingdon of Accawmacke. 11 Accomac was one of the eight
shires into which Virginia was divided in 1634.
In 1659 the settlers of Accomac determined to take I action against the Assateague Indians of the lower Maryland Shore in reprisal for their depredations upon scattered
- settlements in the upper part of Northampton County and the
lower part of Maryland (then claimed by Virginia). 1 A
punitive expedition to be led by Col. Edmund Scarburgh was
sanctioned by Governor Samuel Matthews. Both the Governor
and Scarburgh wrote the governor of Maryland soliciting
1. When the county that formerly embraced all the Virginia Eastern Shore and was first called Accawmacke (Accomac) was divided, the new upper county assumed the old name, and the lower county was designated Northampton.
7 cooperation, but it was not forthcoming. In Scarburgh's
letter, dated August 28, he wrote, "In ten days I shall leave
here with three hundred men and sixty horses, sloops, and
all other things necessary £or the campaign, and arrangements
have been made for a similar supporting partyo 11 Although
no record of the expedition is available, it must have been
a. sue.:: ess, because in 1660 the Assembly at Jamestown:
Ordered that seventy thousand five hundred pounds of tobacco, the same allowance of the soldiers that were carried over to Accomack, be also paid to the inhabitants of Accomack for the full charge of all the late warr, Provided that twenty-two thousand six hundred eight-one pounds of tobacco be deducted out of the same, It being paid for the debt long since due from the said county to the publiqueo
From the above, it appears that some of the men consti-
tuting Scarburgh's force came from the Western Shore. That
such a step was necessary seems unlikely, because the
Assateagues could not have numbered more than 200 worriers.
Colonel Scarburgh, however, loved war as the Indians' loved
vengeance, and he was determined to extirpate the Indians, and
undoubtedly employed his influence at Jamestown to secure
the government's assistance. 2
2o Ralph To Whitelaw, Virginia's Eastern Shore: A His tory of Northampton and Accomack Counties, 2 vols. (Gloucester, Masso, 1968), l, 31-32, 631; Jennings C. Wise, Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century (Richmond, 1911}, 159-161.
8 Although the power of the Assateagues to harass the
settlers of Accomack had been broken by the Scarburgh ex-
pedition of 1659, almost 30 years were to pass before the
first claim to Assateague Island was made. As the final
decade of the 17th Century approached, the lands on the Eastern
Shore, near the Virginia-Maryland boundary as established in
1668, were patented. Capt. Daniel Jenifer in 1687 was granc;~.J
a patent for 3,500 acres, being all of Assateague Island up to
the Maryland line. 3
The haste of Jenifer and others to patent the islands
and marsh lands was the result of restrictions that the
Virginia General Assembly had placed on permitting livestock
to run in the woods. Wild horses had become a menace in J parts of Virginia, including the Eastern Shore. The impor- tation of horses was stopped, and persons catching a wild
horse were entitled to keep it under certain conditions.
Horse hunting became a sport, but it was prohibited on Sunday.
Horses and cattle were put on the islands as soon as they
were patented and rounded up once a year for branding, where
more than one man owned an island. 4
3. Whitelaw, Virginia's Eastern Shore, _,2 1384.
4. Nora M. Turman, The Eastern Shore of Virginia, 1603- 1964 (Onancock, 1964), 72.
9 To hold his patent on the barrier islands, the owner
was required to keep only four men on it and pay the King's
rent. Thus a small number of men could tend a large herd of
livestock, where no fences were neededo
Where two or three men owned the entire island, they
prorated the breeding stock put on the island, then prorated
the _.,crease. In this manner there was no need for a spring
roundup to mark the young, while they were with their mothers
as was the case on the mainlando The men employed to serve
as livestock rangers presumably did some slaughtering and
curing of meat and prepared the hides for market. Such
products required inspection at one of the ports on the
mainland before they could be shipped out of Virginia. 5
Jenifer in 1689 sold to Maximilian Gore, :for 12,000
pounds of tobacco, 11 3,500 acres o:f sandy and marshy and
swampish land on Assateague Islando" In 1691, 250 acres on
a marsh, called Wildcat Island, were patented, and a year
or two later purchased by John Curtis III. A decade later,
another "marshy island with some trees on it," containing
300 acres and lying near Oyster Creek in Assateague Inlet, 6 was purchased by Curtis, payment being made in cattle.
60 Susie Mo Ames, Studies of the Virginia Eastern Shore in the Seventeenth Century (Richmond, 1940), 33-340
10 Maximilian Gore and his wife (Joyce) in 1696 left to
his three sons-in-laws (stepsons) and a son, as follows:
to James Smith, 500 acres; to John Smith, 500 acres; to
Thomas Smith, 300 acres, and to his son Daniel Gore the balance
as a residuary legatee.
In 1709 James Smith left his part as 644 acres to his
sons John, Thomas, and James. The estate of Thomas Smith
was administered in 1710 to Francis Benston as having married
the widow Ann, but a son, John, succeeded to the title.
Daniel Gore in 1720 bequeathed to his son William~
Ragged Point Neck, Little Neck, and one-third of 500 acres
he had bought from John Smith; to his son Selby, Great Neck; I and the balance to them jointly. William Gore in 1737 sold to William Chance and his - daughter, Patience, 200 acres which he said had been sold his father, Daniel, by John Smith of Somerset.
The estate of William Gore in 1752 was administered to
his brother Daniel, who inherited the unsold part of the
land, and he was succeeded by a son, Thomas, who in 1792
made two sales to Daniel Mifflin; one for 163 acres opposite
Piney Island, and the other for 358 acres called Ragged Pointo
John Smith in 1765 left 300 acres to his son John, and
100 acres each to his daughters, Leah Welburn and Esther
Savageo
11 As the years passed and the component parts became more
broken up, they gradually reverted to the State because of
failure to pay taxes, and beginning in 1841 land warrants
were granted to a number of individualso Unlike many of the
barrier islands, Assateague has been 11making up," so that
today it is considerably larger than the acreage called £or
in Captain Jenifer's patent. As the increments became available,
land warrants were granted by the State to many persons, but
as time passed, practically all the island in Virginia was
acquired by Samuel B. Fieldj' of Baltimore, who in 1930 left
it to his sister Nellie, at that time the wife of Dr. Wo Mo
W-e c· • ,"! . \ Burb'~ell. In 1943 Mro-Burnwell sold 8,808 1/2 acres to the
Federal government £or development as the Chincoteague
National Wildlife Refuge.7
Bo In Maryland
The Indians who inhabited the barrier islands and
adjacent mainland were related to the Nanticokes and not
connected with the Powhatan Confederacy of the lower pen-
insula. Being warlike, they resisted the encroachments of
the Accomac settlers from the first. On May 6, 1686, the
Kings of Pocomoke and Assateague, with other important men of the northern Indians, appeared before the Maryland Land
7. Whitelaw, Virginia's Eastern Shore, ~' 1384.
12 Office Commissioners, and, after exchanging gifts, they com-
plained that Charles Scarburgh of Accomac and others had
seated on part of their lands called Askiminokonson Neck;
that Captains Osbourne and William Whittington had taken up
land within their bounds; and that their crops were constantly
being injured by the white men's cattle which crossed the two
bridges over the Pocomoke. 8
The Indians chiefs had good reason to be alarmed. Two
months before, on March 7, at a meeting of the Council of
Maryland, Captain Whittington of Somerset had presented a
memorial concerning
a certain Isthusmus or Peninsula of Marish & Piney Hummocks called and known by the name of Asseateague Island lying and being on the Seaboard side within this Province con J taining at the least 15000 Acres the south ward end of which is reputed to be within the bounds of Virga by which pretence some persons are about to take up or Pattent a considerable quantity thereof in the right of Virga. 9
At this time the boundary between Maryland and Virginia
had not been delineated, and enroachments by the Virginians
were feared.
The next day, March 8, the Council, in accordance with
the request of Cols. Vincent Lowe and William Diggs that
B. Archives of Maryland, Proceedings of the Council, 1667-1687-8 William H. Browne, ed. (Baltimore, 1887), p. 480.
9. Ibid., 536.
13 Assateague Island be laid out in their names, ordered Captain
Whittington to survey the same, to report the number 0£ acres
which were found to be contained within the bounds 0£ the
aforesaid "island," and to apprise the Council as .to whether
or not any earlier surveys had been made within the area. 10
If Whittington made his survey and report as the Council
expected, it has been lost.11
On September 16, 1702, Captain Whittington patented
a 1,000-acre tract on Assateague Island, calling it "Baltimore's
Gift. 1112 Elizabeth Diggs, the widow 0£ William Diggs, on
October 18, 1704, signed over to Whittington all of her
interest in that "Peninsula 0£ land and marshes" called
Assateague, which had been granted to her husband by Lord
Baltimore.13
Before another ten years had passed, much 0£ the beach was disposed 0£ by Captain Whittington under the aforesaid
10. Ibid., 538.
11. William B. Marye, "The Sea Coast 0£ Maryland," The Maryland Historical Magazine, ~' No. 2, 95.
12. Land 0££ice of Maryland, Patent Records £or Land, Liber W.D., folio 407.
13. Land 0££ice, Warrant, Liber A, 1694-1706, folio 231. It has been impossible to document the intermediate changes in the title, i£ any. Marye, "The Sea Coast 0£ Maryland," Maryland Historical Magazine, 40, No. 2, 96.
14 warrant in the names of several individuals, including himself.
On Assateague Island proper two earlier surveys were encountered--
"Baltimore's Gift" and "Winter Pasture. 1114 The latter seems to
have been popularly known as Winter Quarter, a place name still
attached to a section of shore on the bay side of the island.
Here, too, is found Winter Quarter Creek and Winter Quarter
Shoals.15
From Fenwick Island southward, between the Atlantic Ocean
and the sound as far as the inlet which was located four miles
below today's Ocean City Inlet, Whittington laid out a continuous
chain of surveys varying in area from 110 to 500 acres. 16 For
many years thereafter these beach lands, like those on the Vir- J ginia section of the coast, were bought, sold, and inherited,
140 Land Office, Patent Records for Land, Liber 22, folio 286. "Winter Pasture is called "Winter Quarter" in Whittington's certificate of survey. A rent-roll for Somerset County (Calvert Papers No. 885) contains the following entry (folio 126), "500 acres--Winter Pasture survd. 5 May 1686 for Coll. William Stevens."
15. Marye, "The Sea Coast of Maryland," Maryland Historical Magazine, 40, Noo 2, 96. "Winter Quarter" and "Baltimore's Gift" are entered on James Bo Robins' MS Map of Worcester County, circa 1800. "Privilege," patented to Adam Spence and William Fassett, Nov. 16, 1769, began at a tree standing near the mouth of Winter Quarter Creek, opposite Beacon Clump. "Fishing Camp," surveyed for the same individuals, June 13, 1772, lay on Winter Quarter Beach, on the west side of Winter Quarter Creek. Winter Quarter Shoals are indicated on a map designated, l'Chart of Delaware anrl ChPsaneake Bavs anrl the Sea Coac:-t t'T"om Ca·pe l J • May to Cape Henry," revised edition, 1882. A copy of Robins' Map is on file in the Map Division of the_ Library of Congress. 16. William B. Marye has prepared a. plat of these lands, a copy of which accompanies this report. From south to north
15 until "little by little, one by one, the titles to these properties ~
were apparently abandoned." In the years, before the advent
of cheap public transportation and leisure time, the beaches
were not thought of as "resorts" of vacationists. Nevertheless',
it is difficult to see why these lands came to be regarded as
valueless. Years later, in the 1870s and 1880s, when "the
great vacation and 'tripper' era began" to draw people to the
Eastern Shore, and speculators moved into patent vast reaches
of the beach all the way from Fenwick's Island to Cape Charles,
these early 18th Century land-grants were ignored, and the sand
and marshes so taken up were described in the patents, not
as escheat, as was proper, but as 'vacant' lands and surveyed
under common warrants. 1 7
the patents ran: "Bald Beach," "Assoteague" (site of Ocean City)," "Adam's Fall" (site of Ocean City),"Winter Range," "Spence's Lot," "Sand Beach," "Tower's Pasture," "Portland Hills," "The Cellar," "Hudson's Purchase," and "The Upper Pines." The certificate of survey of "Bald Beach" (1706) called for an inlet as its southern boundary. "The Upper Pines," surveyed for William Whittington (1714) and patented to his daughter, Hannah Hough (1736), included the grove of woods known as "The Upper Pines." In his will, February 28, 1718/19, Whittington left his land to his daughter, describing it as "joining on the north with the beach of Henry Hudson," by which "Hudson's Pur chase" is meant. This chain of surveys occupies about 11 and one-half miles of beach from "The Upper Pines" to the inlet. The northern boundary of "The Upper Pines" was located a short distance below Fenwick Island.
The old inlet which bounded Sinepuxent Island on the north was situated between three and three and three-quarters miles south of Ocean City Inlet. Marye, "The Sea Coast of Maryland," Mary land Historical Magazine, 40, No. 2, 96-97.
17. Marye, "The Sea Coast of Maryland," Maryland Historical Magazine, !!Q_, No. 2, 96-97. 16 The identity of the first white man to settle on the Mary-
land barrier islands is unknown. It seems likely that the persons
whose lands on the beach were surveyed by Whittington between
1704 and 1714 were not slow "in setting up quarters" on those
properties. We can be certain that whites were living on
northern Assateague Island in 1711. Whittington's survey of ' Assateague Beach called for a boundary beginning near a cove I or gut called the Three Run Cove, which issued out of the sound "to the eastward of the new dwelling house, being also a boundary
of another tract of land surveyed for the said Whittington called
Baltimore's Gift." (This "dwelling house" undoubtedly stood
on "Baltimore's Gift.")18
C. Site Evaluation and Recommendations ·' Information about the settlements made on Assateague Island, in the last decade of the 17th Century and the early 18th Cen-
tury, will have to be interpreted in the Park's Visitor Centers,
as no physical evidence of the structures erected have survived.
Utlizing information contained in the original patents, it would
be possible to mark on the ground the surveys run by Whittington,
but this would be of no interest to the visitor.
18. Maryland Land Office, Patent Records for Land, Liber EE, No. 6, Folio, 291.
17
CHAPTER IV
The Pasturage of Horses and Cattle
A. The Introduction of Horses in Virginia
A popular tradition is that the first settlers found large
numbers of wild horses on the meadows of Assateague and
Chincoteague Islands, the parent stock having come ashore from
a shipwrecked Spanish galleon. There is no documentary foundation
for this tale. If there had been horses on these islands, some mention or use of them would have been made by the first
settlers. When Chincoteague Island was granted to one of the colonists in 1670 by King James II, no mention of horses is made. Again, while Col. Henry Norwood was shipwreck on the nearby coast in 1649 and spent some time in the neighborhood as a guest of a hospitable Kickotanke chieftan, he wrote of the presence of large numbers of hogs in the marshes near Chincoteague, but he made no mention of horses. 1
It has also been claimed that the wild ponies of Assateague were descended from horses left there by pirates, but this too is improbable. Dr. Philip H. Bruce in his Economic History of
1. Wise, Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke, 307-308.
18 Virginia in the 17th Century has pointE::d om; that the number of
horses in the colony in 1631 was very small, and prior to 1649
references in the records of Virginia to horses are rare. 2
The first descriptions of the economic activity on the
Eastern Shore, published in London in 1634~ reported that
of Heggs wee have already got from Achomack [a plantation in Virginia], to the number of 100 and more; and some 30 coews; and more wee expect daily, with Goates and ~nnes; our Horses and Sheepe wee must have out of England, or some other place by the way, for wee can have none in Virginia.
In an effort to increase the number of horses, the Quarter
Court convened at Jamestown in March 1639 granted Thomas Stegge
and Jeremy Blackman the right to import horses into the colony,
and a few years later the Assembly passed laws to encourage
their further importation. 3
In 1649 there were only 300 horses in the colony, but by
1669 so many had been imported, and the natural increase had been so rapid, that horses had become a burden by reason of their depredations, and consequently their further importation 4 was prohibited.
2. Philip A. Bruce, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century ••• , 2 vols (New York, 1895), .!_, 335.
3. Covington, 11 The Discovery of the Eastern Shore," Maryland Historical Magazines, 10, No. 3, 200-201; Bruce, Economic History of Virginia, l, 335; Wise, Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke, 307-308.
4. Bruce, Ecomomic History of Virginia, l., 374-375.
19 A tax in 1669 was imposed on horses, and the owners were
requested to pen them between July 20 and October 20. Confronted
by this legislation some of the planters on the peninsula, to avoid
the expense of fencing off the marshes on the mainland, trans
ported their stock to the nearby barrier islands, and thus
the Assateague and Chincoteague ponies evolved. The coarse
provender of the salt marshes and continual exposure to the
elements would account for their stunted growth, which feature
had become so marked among the horses in other parts of Vir-
ginia by 1686, that laws were enacted to improve the breed. By
this time the wild horses were so numerous that one of the
principal sports of the young planters was to hunt them with
dogs, as all unbranded stock belonged to its captor. Prior to
J 1691, the owner of land under cultivation was not permitted to harm the horses of his neighbor, no matter how much they tres
passed on his land and damaged his crops. But in that year
a law was passed, which permitted the planter, if protected by
a legal pale, to kill horses found for the third time committing
depredations.
B. Horse Penning in Virginia
It was also customary for a number of planters to pool
their resources for the confinement of their horses on a neck
of land, where they might feed without injury to the ripening
crops. These horses were periodically rounded up and driven
20 into a pen and the colts branded. To prevent any secret encroach-
ments upon the rights of others, it was generally required that
notice of the penning should be posted at the parish church two
weeks before the roundup. 5
c.. Horses in Maryland
By 1671 "horses, geldings, mares and colts" had so increased
and were so destructive to cornfields that their importation into
the province was forbidden for three years by an Act of the
Maryland Assembly. Unwanted horses of Somerset County were
turned loose in large numbers to range over the island marshes.
The outlying beaches, not having been patented, belonged to
the county, and as such they were leased by the occupants of
bayside farms to be "held by the Manor of Somerset." These
beaches were long used as a sort of pasture commons, to which
livestock was transported from the mainland on barges or scows;
though, occasionally, in narrow places, such as above Sinepuxent
Neck, and at low water, wading was possible. Domestic animals permitted to run at large were generally branded for identification by their owners.6
S. Wise, Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke, 308-310.
6. Ibid., 307; Covington, "The Discovery of the Eastern Shore," Maryland Historical Magazine, 10, No. 3, 200-201.
21 The first economic pursuit to focus attention on the rather
desolate and not easily accessible area was the pasturage of
horses and cattle. This is apparent from the names of three of
the early Maryland land-grants: 11Tower's Pasture," "Winter
Quarter" or"Winter Pasture," and "Winter Range."
D. TI,e Chincoteague Pony Penning
During the last week of July the Assateague ponies, the
descendants of these horses, are rounded up for the swim to
Chincoteague for Pony Penning, one of the best publicized
carnivals on the Atlantic Seaboardo On Tuesday horsemen enter
the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on saddle horses and I roundup the ponieso On Wednesday the ponies are swum across to Chincoteague and spend the night in a pound in the center - of the carnival grounds. On Thursday some of the ponies are auctioned off to the highest bidders, and the proceeds are used
to help finance the activities of the Chincoteague Volunteer
Fire Department, which owns all the ponies on the Refuge. On
Friday the old stock and ponies that have not been sold are
returned to Assateagueo
Pony Penning had its origin in Colonial days when livestock
owners were required to mark the colts in the presence of the
neighborso The roundup on Assateague was called "Horse Penning"
in 1924, and the entertainment was a baseball game between
22 the Chincoteague and Cape Charles teams. At that time the
ponies were privately owned. 7
E. Pony Pennings at Green Run Inlet
Mr. Ralph Watson of Snow Hill, Maryland, recalls that in
the first decade of the 20th Century there were "pony pennings"
at Green Run Inlet. In fact,cth~ first "pony penning" he
witnessed was at that point. The ponies were rounded up by
cowboys, corraled, and branded. 8 ......
F. Sheep Penning Day
Large numbers of sheep were raised on the Virginia portion
of Assateague Island at the turn of the century. Wool from these
sheep provided the islanders with much of their clothing. The sheep
were allowed to roam, and were penned once a year in the spring.
"Sheep Penning Day" was a big day, and people would come over
from Chincoteague and other nearby communities for the celebration.
A big dinner was prepared, consisting of chicken pie and gravy.
While tPP. women and children prepared the meal, the men rounded
7. Turman's The Eastern Shore of Virginia, 260.
8. Personal Interview, Watson with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. Mr. Watson is a life-long resident of the area, and spent considerable time on Assateague Island in the years after the turn of the century.
23 up the sheep. After the sheep were penned, they were sheared and marked.9
G. Site Evaluation and Recommendations
The horse story and the annual Chincoteague "pony penning11 have tremendous visitor appeal. To insure that the visitor is made aware of the origin of the Assateague and Chincoteague horses, this element of the Park story will have to be told in the Visitor Center and Park publications. Visitors to Assateague
Island will be able to see the ponies in the environment that produced the breed. The ponies will provide an object lesson on the effects of inbreeding and environment.
9. Personal Interviews, Mrs. Dale Henry with Bearss, Dec. 12, and Melvina Shepherd with Bearss, Dec. 13, 1968. Mrs. Indiana Jones Henry, the widow of Dale Henry, grew up on Chincoteague and was a frequent visitor to Assateague in the first decade of the 20th Century. Melvina Shepherd, who grew up on Assateague Island, is well-versed and has written ex tensively on the history of Assateague and Chincoteague.
#### ### #
24
CHAPTER V
Inlets
i l A. Chincoteague Inlet The inlet separating Assateague and Wallops Islands and I providing access to Chincoteague Bay from the south is known as Chincoteague Inlet. To enter Chincoteague Bay, the small boat
captain of today has his choice of navigating either Queen Sound
Channel or Chincoteague Channel. In the 18th and 19th Centuries,
the cartographers, however, used the term Chincoteague Inlet for
both the inlet and the channel. It was through this inlet that
Verrazzano sailed Dauphine in 1524.
John Ho Alexander, Maryland State Topographical Engineer,
in 1837 reported to Governor Thomas w. Veazey that there was no
inlet between Indian River Inlet and Chincoteague Inlet, a dis-
tance of nearly 50 miles. According to Alexander, Chincoteague
Inlet had such a winding channel that vessels had been known
to lay to for two or three weeks awaiting a favorable wind and
tide. As for Indian River Inlet, the depth of water rarely
exceeded six feet at flood tide, and was sometimes not more
25 than three feet a't ebb tide. 1 Neither of these inlets were of
much commerical importance at the time of Alexander's study.
B. Green Run Inlet
Green Run Inlet cut across Assateague Island about four
miles north of the Virginia line, and for which one of the Life-
Savin~.' Stations was named. This inlet appears on a map titled,
"General Chart of Delaware and Chesapeake Bay and Seacoast from
Cape May to Cape Henry," 1855; but on the revised edition of
the same chart (1882) it is marked "closed." It is also marked
"closed" on Martinet's Atlas of Maryland--section "Worcester
County," 1866. It is not mentioned in Alexander's report,
1837, to Governor Veazey. From this we may infer that Green
Run Inlet, as a useful passage, lasted less than 30 years.
Dro R. Vo Truitt informed William B. Marye on February 3, 1945,
that there was formerly a beach settlement at Green Run, and in
the early 1880s there was a summer hotel at that place called
"Scott's Ocean Housea 112
c. Sinepuxent Inlet
Alexander in 1837 reported, "There used to be an inlet
[Sinepuxent] off against South Point about 30 miles below Indian
lo John G. Alexander to Veazey, 1837, pp. 76-78.
2. William Bo Marye, "The Sea Coast of Maryland," The Maryland Historical Magazine, 40, No. 2, 100.
26 river inlet, but this has been, since 1819, closed up entirely;1
His investigations had shown
that the main-land of the eastern shore of Worcester County does not reach the ocean; but that it is protected by a beach, con sisting originally [by that is meant hardly 100 years ago] of a number of small islands.$ •• At present that original arrangement is broken up to a certain degree by the junction into one of all the islands, and their connection with the main-land at the northern end, so that in/fact from Indian river inlet down to Chincoteague the beach is a long pe ninsula of 50 miles, varying in width from one hundred yards to nearly a mile ••• oThe ancient names, which were attributed to the different islands, when they were islands, are still in a good many places retained for different portions of the peninsula. Thus we have Assatigue Island, now the southernmost extremity of the peninsula; Sinepuxent, against Sinepuxent Neck, and join;ng on to Assatigue--the Rocking Islands, the middle Pines, Fenwick's Island, and others whose names will occur to those familiar with those localities3
Ignoring Green Run Inlet, which came into being later,
Assateague Island had a length of about 25 miles, more than one- half of which lay in Virginia. Its northern limit was the south shore of Old Sinepuxent Inlet, nearly opposite the southern end of Tingles Island. Sinepuxent Island extended from Sinepuxent
Inlet, about one-half mile below the site of the North Beach
Life-Saving Station, northward five and one-half miles. North
3. Alexander to Veazey, 78.
27 and South Beach were so designated, because of their position
relative to Sinepuxent Inlet, which separated them. 4
Sinepuxent Inlet appears on a number of maps: Lewis Evan's
"General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America, 1755";
on Griffith's "Map of Maryland, 1794"; on a "Map of the States
of Maryland and Delaware from the Latest Surveys," published
by Weyland, Reid, and Smith, 1795; and on an unpublished map of
Worcester County, Maryland, drawn about 1800 by James Bowdoin
Robins. Griffith's map shows a break in the barrier island nearly
four miles in width. The channel of the inlet, according to
the same authority, had a width of only three-quarters of a mile.
It was bounded on the north by shoals or quicksands that were
three miles across. Shallows or quaking sands of less extent
separated it from South Beach. The main channel of Sinepuxent
Inlet lay almost due east of the southeastern tip of Tingles
4. On Robin's Map of Worcester County, both "S. Beach" and."North Beach" are pinpointed. A reference to South Beach as well as the inlet, is found in the certificate of survey of "Addition to Mount Pleasant." In running the survey, the point of beginning was "a marked sassafras post set up on the west side of the South Beach bearing north, north east thirty yards from a salt house built by Thomas Selby and Moses Johnson and now owned by Thomas Purnell • • • and running • to the waters of the bay at the edge of a channel called the South Channel makeing round a part of Beach from Synapuxen Inlet." Land Office of Maryland, Unpatented Certificate No. 89, Worcester County.
28 Island.s The northern point of its entrance from the sound
seems to have been east of Lumber Marsh.
The first mention of Sinepuxent Inlet occurred on September 3,
1698, when the Justices of the Peace of the town of Lewes,
Delaware, informed the Governor of Pennsylvania that their settle-
ment had been plundered by 50 armed men from a "snug-ship" and
a sloop. England at this time was at war with France. The
justices added that the sloop was presumed to be the property
of John Redwood of Philadelphia and had been boarded and "taken
coming out of Cinnepuxon Inlett. 116 Here is evidence of trade
between Philadelphia, itself only 16 years old, and tne Eastern
Shore plantations, via Sinepuxent Inlet.
In 1744 the inhabitants of the upper parishes of Worcester
County petitioned the Maryland Assembly "to erect a Town near
Synapuxon Inlett and the Indian River."7 Nothing came of this petition, as its main object was to encourage settlement, so
"the Inhabitants may be the better enabled to repel any Enemy's
Landing on the Sea-Side of the said Countyo 118
So Tingles Island was patented by Capto Daniel Tingle on February 19, 1813, under the name of "Tingles Discoveryo" Land Office, Patented Certificate Noo 25209 Worcester County.
6. Some Records of Sussex County, Delawara, compiled by the Revo CoHoBo Turner (Lewes, 1909), 41.
7. Archives of Maryland, 42, 457. The town on Indian River was to be situated at John Massey's and Thomas Eydolat's plantations.
8. Ibid., 625. 29 On March 6, 1776, Cwnberland Dugan, a well-to-do Baltimore merchant, proposed to the Council of Maryland that it give its approval of his shipping a quantity of corn to Maryland in a brig currently tied-up at Boston, of which he was the ownero
Should His Majesty's navy be blockading Chesapeake Bay, when the brig arrived off the capes, her master would be able to put in at "Chincoteague, Sinnepuxent, or some other inlet there."9 One year later, Sinepuxent Inlet was fortified and a company of militia posted thereolO In 1780 the Council directed the Justices of Worcester County to ship stores of corn, which had been requisitioned in that county, to the Quartermaster General at
Trenton, New Jersey, via Sinepuxent Inlet.11
The commission named to survey the ocean sounds of Mary- land, Delaware, and Virginia reported in 1834:
Violent storms, north-easters, as they are familiarly termed by those who frequently witness and suffer from their invasions, occasionally pass the ocean waters and sand across the line of the beach and open for a short period old Sinepuxent Inlet, which has not been, since 1819, of any continued importanceo And its present openings, so far from affording any advantages, seem only to precede, as they afford a better opportunity for, new and harassing changes in the channel of the sound. Attempts have been several . times, and again of late, made to open
9o Ibid., 2_, 2040
10. Ibid., 16, 286.
lL Ibid., ~' 151. 30 by artificial means, an inlet rath2r highe~ up the point than the point of Old Tnlet. 1
D. Sandy Point Inlet
The site of Sandy Point Inlet is about three and one-half
miles below Ocean City Inlet. In 1920, duri~g a violent storm,
the ocean broke through the barrier island at this point, thus
recreating until it was closed by a nor'easter on May 9, 1928,
a passage navigable by craft of light-draft, mostly fish-pound
dories. In the storm of March 1962 this inlet was reopened, but
it was of little commercial value because of its shallow entrances.
It soon closed, however. Near this point in 1907 an artificial
inlet was opened by a corporation financed by Berlin business
interests, who hoped to profit from its commercial use. The
artificial inlet soon closed, and those who had invested in it
lost their capitalo13
E. Ocean City Inlet
The inlet at Ocean City was opened by the hurricane of 19'.31.
The "city fathers" recognized the potential value of this cutthrough
12. Report of a Commission for the Survey of Sounds • (1834), lL
13. Marye, "The Sea Coast of Maryland, 0 Maryland Histc;:,rical Magazine, 40, No. 2, 99-102; Reginald T. Truitt, High Winds • High Tides (Annapolis, 1967), 24-25; Personal Interview, Mrs. Addie Carey with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. Mrs. Carey, who is 96 years old, has lived in Worcester County her entire life. Her husband, Ethan Allen Carey, was an experienced waterman, who was very familiar with the upper end of Assateague Island and Sinepuxent Bay. 31 for commercial and recreational purposes and successfully rallied 4't public support to have it kept opened by the Corps of Engineers. 14
F. Fox Hill and Winter Quarter Inlets
Four inlets, all of short duration, were cut through
Assateague Island between Sugar Point Cove and Wjnter Quarter Gut in the latter part of the 19th Century. The area hereabo~t and southward to below Fox Hill is a flat beach, known as Fox Hill
Levels, over which the surf sweeps whenever a severe storm buffets the coast.15
G. Slough Inlet
Conxsaxrge and Shaniadarade's Map of 1766 locates this in
let north of Green Run and near the lower end of Fox Hill Levels.
Its course to Chincoteague Bay still is extant and is referred
to as Inlet Slough, a shallow watercourse probably indicating a short-lived inlet.16
H. Pope Island Inlet
An inlet at Pope Island was mapped in the 1850s, and in
1877 the Coast and Geodetic Survey charted a new inlet here,
14. Truitt, High Winds • High Tides, 24.
15. Ibido, 28.
16. Ibid.
32 although it was designated "Green Run Inlet." The bayside con- nection of Pope Island Inlet, like that at Green Run, is open and navigable today through its channels - the Ditch and Bay. 17
I. Site Evaluation and Recommendations
The inlet story is one that can be interpreted at the Visitor
Center and on the sites. It is recommended that a trailside exhibit be erected at Sinepuxent Inlet to identify the site and interpret it to the public. According to Covington, Verrazzano, when he left Chincoteague Bay, sailed out this inlet.
17. Ibid., 28-29.
#### ## #
33
CHAPTER VI
The Life-Saving Service and United States Coast Guard
A. Wreck Commissioners and Wreck Masters
In 1750 a Spanish ship, The Greyhound, came ashore, on
Assateague Island in Maryland, less than twice her length above
the Virginia line. Word of her plight soon drew people to the
scene both from Maryland and Virginia, who cut up her decks and
carried away everything of value they could lay their hands, on,
except 200 planks of mahogany. These planks, on being cast ashore
during the storm that broke up the hull of the ship, were carted
into Snow Hill and sold to a local merchant. 1
With the establishment of the office of Com~issioner of
Wrecks in 1782, Virginia assumed a virtuous attitude toward
Marylanders, who were late in creating a similar post. The county of Accomac is held in great odium on account of the "robberies made on Wrecked vessels, 11 wrote John Teackle, Commissioner of
Wrecks, to the Governor of Virginia, on April 8, 1784. This ill- repute of his county he blamed on the Marylanders, who seem to consider themselves priviledged to embezzle from wrecked vessels
lo Archives of Maryland, 28, 493, 494. In August 1778 the British frigate, Mermaid, stranded and was broken up, near Sine puxent Inlet. Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertizer, Aug. 18 & 25, 1778. 34 "for which nefarious business the island of Assateague, famous
for its shoals, and on which three valuable ships have lately
been stranded, affords all too many opportunitieso" Notice of
shipwrecks, he claimed, was sent to Marylanders on the mainland,
involved in these illicit practices, by the island people, their
confederates.2
In 1799, 17 years after Virginia, the Maryland Assembly
enacted legislation appointing a wreck-master for Worcester
County. 3 Reviewing the conditions which called for this appoint-
ment, the legislators took cognizance of the fact that "from the
exposure of the south east bounds of Worcester County to the
Atlantic Ocean many vessels have been and may hereafter be stranded
I on the seacoast of the county o • o' and the goods and other property belonging to such vessels may be embezzled and stolen
to the great injury of the owners and insurerso" The county
wreck-master was empowered, upon notice of a shipwreck or of the
imminence of such a disaster, to command constables to press as
many men into service as might be needed, and was further authorized
to demand assistance of commanders of vessels which might be
riding in the vicinity of the disaster, under forfeit of blOO.
The law provided further that persons found stealing from vessels
2. Virginia State Papers, 1782-1784, 2, 572.
3. Acts of the Maryland Assembly, November Session, 1799, Chapter 82.
35 in distress pumps or other articles, the loss of which could
contribute to a shipwreck, should suffer death without benefit
of clergy. 4
B. The Life-Saving Service Comes To Assateague
The barrier islands of the Eastern Shore, despite the actions
taken by the states of Virginia and Maryland, continued to claim
a heavy toll of shipping that skirted the coast. In the years
immediately after the Civil War, pressure for the organization of
a Federal Life-Saving Service mounted. It was pointed out by its
advocates that the Atlantic coast from the eastern point of Long
Island to Cape Fear, North Carolina, had 11 a remarkable and uniform
feature. 11 Along nearly this entire reach of 600 miles, except
where interrupted by New York, Delaware, and ChesapPake Bays,
the coastline was a strand of sand-beach from a quarter of a
mile to five miles wideo It was intersected and broken up into
islands, at varying distances by narrow inlets, and separated
from the mainland by long, narrow bays, except in North Carolina,
where the intervening waters expanded into Albemarle and Pamlico
Soundso Few of the inlets were navigable, and many of them were
constantly shifting position. New ones suddenly appeared after
violent storms, and old ones closed. In some localities
the beaches, during a series of years, would advance considerably
4. Marye, "The Sea Coast of Maryland," Maryland Historical Magazine, 40, No. 2, 113.
36 into the sea, and in return suffer, during another series of
years, encroachments by the sea. At numerous points outside of
this cordon of beaches dangerous shoals extended considerable
distances, while all along it were shifting sand bars over which
in storms the surf broke in wild tumult.
Until the establishment of the Life-Saving Service in 1871 7
the most dangerous section of the Atlantic seaboard was the Long
Island and New Jersey coasts. Flanking the approaches to New
York Harbor, they annually levied "a terrible tribute" upon passing
commerce. Similarly, the shipping passing to and from Philadelphia,
Baltimore, and Norfolk contributed "its proportion to make up the
record of disasters on the coasts of Delaware, Virginia, and
North Carolina. 115
On April 20, 1871, Congress appropriated $200,000, and
authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to employ crews of ex-
perienced sur£men at such stations and for such periods as he might deem necessary and propero To secure information about
conditions in the then existing service, Capt. John Faunce, an
experienced officer of the Revenue Marine, was detailed to visit
the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey and make a thorough study of its buildings, equipment, and personnel. Captain Faunce was a rapid and skillful worker, and he was back in Washington by
August 9, 1871, when he submitted his report"
5. Annual Reports of the Operations of th2 United States Life-Saving Service £or the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1876 (Washington, 1876), 360 37 His report, on being studied and evaluated, resulted in a
decision to undertake a thorough reorganization of the service.
The removal of incompetent officers and their replacement
with capable men, the repair qf the stations and their equipment,
the employment of selected crews, and "the promulgation of a
series of instructions specifically setting forth the duties re
quired of officers and men," were the first steps taken to insure
that the new Life-Saving Service be placed upon as efficient a
footing as possible for the approaching winter's work. 6
Twelve new stations were established on the coast of New
Jersey and six on that of Lonq Island. and the old ones were
either rebuilt or enlarged. In March 1871 Congress made provision
for the establishment of two stations on the coast of Rhode Is
J land, and in June 1872 authorized the extension of the service
to Cape Cod. Nine stations, similar in construction and equip
ment to those built the previous year on the coasts of Long
Island and New Jersey, were built during the autumn of 1872 be
tween Race Point and Monomoy Point. 7
Congress in March 1873, to further extend the system,
appropriated $100,000 to be expended upon such portions of the
6. Ibid., 48-50.
7 o Ibid. , 51.
38 coast as the Department might determine,'~nd directed the Secretary
of the Treasury to report to the House at the next session of
Congress the points on the sea and lake coasts of the United States
at which the establishment of life-saving stations would best
sub serve the interests of commerce and hureanity ," with a detailed
estimate of the cost of such stations. ~
With this appropriation five stations were established on l the coast of Maine, one on the coast of New Hampshire, five on the coast of Massachusetts, one on Block Island, three on the
coast of Virginia, and seven on the coast of North Carolina. This
expansion of the Life-Saving Service necessitated the constitution
of two new districts, in addition to the three previously orga- I nized. The first of these embraced the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire, and the other the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina,
from Cape Henry to Cape Hatteras. 9
To enable himself to make the required report, as to the
points where the establishment of stations would "subserve the
interests of commerce and humanity," Secretary of the Treasury
William Richardson on March 24, 1873, designated a three-man com-
mission to obtain and report the requisite information. This
commission was to make a detailed estimate of the cost of the
8. Ibid., 53.
9. Ibid.
39 stations they should find it advisable to recommend the establish
ment of. 10
The commission recommended the establishment of three classes
of stations: life-saving stations, life-boat stations, and houses
of refuge. The first class was intended for exposed localities,
destitute of inhabitants, where crews to render assistance in
rescuing the shipwrecked could not be readily collected, and where
means of sheltering and succoring the latter were not at hand;
and also, for flat beaches with outlying bars. These stations
were to be provided with surf-boats, rocket and mortar apparatus,
life-cars, and other appliances adapted to the saving of life
from stranded vessels, and were to be so constructed as to supply J accommodations for these, and for housing the crews to be employed and such shipwrecked persons as might be temporarily detained
at them, for which purpose they were also to be furnished with
the necessary cooking utensils, bedding, etc.
This class of stations was recommended to be established
upon that portion of the Atlantic seacoast embraced between
Cape Henlopen, Delaware, and Cape Charles, Virginia, and upon the
Great Lakes and Pacific coast at the few points where such
protection seemed requisite. 1 1
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., 54.
40 It was estimated that a Life-Saving Station, including its
equipment, would cost $5,302.ls.12
Secretary of the Treasury Richardson transmitted the subject
report to the House of Representatives on January 29, 1874, ac
companied by a letter, in which he expressed his concurrenceo
The Committee on Commerce, to which the report was referred) re
ported a bill based thereon and upon subsequent recommendations
of the Department. This legislation became a law on June 20,
18740 It authorized the establishment on the coast between Cape
Henlopen and Cape Charles 1 'eight complete life-saving stations. 11
Two were to be located on the coast of Delaware, one on the coast
of Maryland, and five on the coast of Virginia. Of these stations, I only two (Green Run Inlet and Assateague Beach) were located within what is today Assateague Island NSo In addition, this act
authorized the establishment of a number of other life-saving
stations, life-boat stations, and houses of refuge along the
Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts, as well as on the Great Lakeso
The eight stations on the Eastern Shore would be assigned to the
Fifth Life-Saving District. 13
The first stations authorized by the Act of June 20, 1874,
to be completed, equipped, and manned were those on the Delmarva
12. Ibido, 55.
13. Ibido
41 Peninsula, six of which were put in operation during the winter of • 1875-18760 Among these were the stations located at Green Run Inlet and Assateague Beacho 14 During the season, personnel posted at
these two stations afforded succor to the crews of three vesselso
Among the stations authorized by legislation enacted by
Congress on June 17, 1878, were three on the Eastern Shore. One
of these, Pope's Island, would be on land within today's Assateague
Island National Seashore.15
The fourth life-saving station to be located within today's
National Seashore was established, built, and manned during the
1883-1884 season. This station was located at North Beach. 16
These four stations were located as follows:
Station State Location Latitude Longitude J North Beach Maryland 10 mio south of Ocean City 38 11 30 75 09 20
Green Run Inlet Maryland North of inlet 38 04 30 75 12 50
14. Ibid., 6, 57. The Keeper of the Green Run Inlet Station was John Evans, while John A. Jones was Keeper at Assateague Beach.
15. Annual Reports of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1878 (Wash ington, 1878), 35.
16. Annual Reports of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1884 (Washington, 1885), 57.
42 Station State Latitude Pope' s Island Maryland 2 mi. south of • Green Run Inlet 38 00 20 75 15 40
Assateague Beach Virginia 1 1/8 mi. south of 17 Assateague Light 37 53 40 75 21 40
In the period of their greatest activity, 1875-1915, the
surfmen from these stations answered 261 calls for assistance from vessels in distress. The crew of Assateague handled 174 of these, that of North Beach 39, that of Green Run Inlet 33, and that of
Pope's Island 15. (See Appendix A £or a list of vessels requiring assistance in the period 1875-1915~) Although the sur£men of the
Assateague Island stations responded to as many calls of assistance as any four stations on the North Carolina Outer Banks, the rescues effected were not as spectacular, and no Gold Life-Saving Medals ~ were issued to the crews. This, however, does not detract from the gallantry of these men who risked their lives to succor others.
In the period 1875-1915 there were only two shipwrecks off the beaches, for which these stations were responsible, that resulted in loss of life. Before the stations were manned in the fall of
187~ the brig Ossipee stranded at Rugged Point, with the loss of two of the crew. The sloop Dauntless grounded near Fox Shoal in
February 1882 with the loss of two men, including her captain.
17. Ibid., 33L
43 '1 e B. Site Evaluation--Life-Saving Stations
The sites of the four Life-Saving (Coast Guard) Stations were
visited on December 10. All that remains of the North Beach
Station is rubble from its foundation. This station was decom-
missioned in 1952 and the main building burned by vandals in 1962,
soon after the March storm. The other structures have likewise.
disappeared.
The site of the Green Run Station, decommissioned on June 10,
1937, is difficult to pinpoint on the ground. The buildings were
sold, dismantled, and moved to the mainland many years ago. So
far it has been impossible to locate a photograph of the Green
Run Station, but according to Norman Jones, who helped decommission
the station, the structures were similar to those at the first
J Assateague Beach Station. The fact that those two stations were
built in the same year and by the same contractor reinforces Jones' . 18 reco11 ection.
At Pope's Island Coast Guard Station, which was decommissioned
in 1953, all the buildings are extant, although they are de-
teriorating rapidly. The boathouse and station date back to 1878.
Until a historic structures report is prepared it will be impossible
to postively date the five other station buildings, although
18. Personal Interview, Norman Jones with Bearss, Dec. 13, 1968. Norman Jones was born on Assateague Island and has spent many years in the Coast Guard. He was one of the two men who "locked up" the Green Run Station and turned the key over to the Keeper of the Pope's Island Station.
41 all probably date back to the turn of the century. Ex~Coast
Guardsman Jones, who spent eight years at the station, stated that
the galley was rebuilt in the early 1930s. 19
All that remains of the 1st Assateague Beach Life-Saving
Station is the crumbling remains of the cistern. This cistern
stood in rear of the station galley. On December 1, 1922, the old
station was decommissioned, and the personnel were transferred to
the new station on the opposite side of Toms Cove. 20
The 2d Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station was in operation
from December 1, 1922, until January 17, 1967, when the crew was
transferred and the buildings and reservation turned over to the I National Park Service. 21 Recommendations
The sites of the North Beach, Green Run Inlet, and old
Assateague Beach Life-Saving Stations should be identified and the
remains stabilized.
Steps should be taken to restore and preserve the buildings
at the Pope's Island Station to their appearance in the 1920s.
The station should then be equipped and furnished to this period.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. Personal Interview, John Hunter with Bearss, Dec. 10, 1968. Hunter is the District Ranger.
45 It will then constitute an in place exhibit to tell the story of
the peacetime activities of the Life-Saving Service and the Coast
Guard on Assateague Island. Stories to be interpreted would in-
elude, in addition to rescues and shipwrecks, the war against
the rum-runners and their effect on the communities.
As the buildings are deteriorating rapidly funds should be
programmed as soon as possible for their stabilization and re-
storation. The necessary RSPs and PCPs should be programmed
to enable the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation to
prepare the Historic Structures Reports, Parts I and II, for
Pope's Island Coast Guard Station.
The Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station, in commission from I 1922 to 1967, is a good example of a facility of this period - located on a cove, bay, or sound. This was opposed to a station, such as Pope's Island, located on the beach. During storms, in
answering calls for assistance, it was frequently impossible for
the crews of the beach stations to launch their surfboats through
the roaring breakers, while the Coast Guardsmen posted at an inlet
station, such as Assateague Beach, could take their craft out
through the comparatively calmer waters of the cove.
The Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station is a valuable his-
torical resource, and as such nothing should be done to modify the
exterior appearance of the structures. Surfaced parking facilities
shoul:i be kept at a discreet distance from the grounds adjacent
to the structures.
46 C. Site Evaluation--Wrecks
Scattered along the beach is the wreckage of a number of ships
that came ashore and broke up. According to Norman Jones, the
most interesting wrecks in the vicinity of Assateague Beach were
Rose, Lambert Ayres, and the 11coconut wreck." A clos~ check of
the Reports of Assistance for the Assateague Beach Life-Saving
Station for the period 1875-1915 shows that the schooner L.A. Rose
stranded on October 25, 1897, one mile south of the stationo There
is no data on the Lambert Ayres, which leads to the assumption that
she may have stranded before the station was established. The
"coconut wreck" could be anyone of a number of vessels stranded
on this beach.
I. The Reports of Assistance for Green Run Inlet Station fail to bear out a statement made by Ed Winbrow in 1964. In his
television interview he stated that a number of schooners came
ashore near Green Run Inlet in 1903. A check of the Reports of
Assistance, however, show that two schooners (Elizabeth M. Buehler
and Julia Grace) came ashore on January 12, 1883, several miles
north of Green Run Inlet Stationo These could have been the ships
Mr. Winbrow had reference to.
Recommendation
The wrecks will be of great interest to the visitor to
Assateague Island NS, and they should be protected and preserved
as a valuable historical resource.
47 CHAPTER VII
Assateague Light
A. The First Light
The need for lighthouses on the Eastern Shore had been
evident since colonial days, but a construction program did not
get under way until the 1830s. Congress on March 3, 1831, ap-
propriated $7,750 to enable the Secretary of the Treasury "to
provide by contract, for building a light-house on dne of the
Chincoteague Islands in the State of ViJ;:ginia." 1
Conway Whittle was assigned the task of selecting the site
and securing land for the lighthouse by Stephen Pl~asonton, Fifth
Auditor of the Treasury and general superintendent of lights. On
December 10, 1831, Pleasanton approved the site chosen and the
steps Whittle had taken for securing it. It was May 4, 1832,
before the transaction was consummated, and the United States
acquired from John H. and Susan Winder for $439.99 a SO-acre tract
on Assateague Island. About one-half the tract was marsh, and
the remainder principally "sand hills partly covered with trees." 2
1. Clip File, Assateague, National Archives, Clipping File, RG 12.
2. Pleasanton to Whittle, Dec. 10, 1831, National Archives
Lighthou?e Ltrs., July 12, 1831-May 6, 1833, 5th Auditor's Office,RG 26 0
48 Pleasonton's next move was to have David Henshaw, Collector
for the Port of Boston, to have published in "a Boston paper of
general circulation'' invitations for interested contractors to
submit p~oposals for the construction of a lighthouse on Assateague
Island. These advertisements were to be allowed to run until
July 1. 3
The low bid for the lighthouse was submitted by Noah Porter
of Massachusetts. Porter would build the lighthouse and Keeper's
quarters for $4,000,and outfit the former for $400.4 On being
notified that Porter was ready to begin construction, Pleasanton
on August 13 notified Whittle to send a man to point out to Porter
the site and to superintend the work.s Porter's crew was capable,
and by mid-December Pleasonton called on the Secretary of the
Treasury for recommendations for the position of lighthouse keeper,
as the structure would probably be completed before the end of
the year.6 On January 19, 1833, David Watson was named Keeper
John H. Winder was paid $333.33 for his interest in the SO-acre tract, while N. J. Winder received $106.66 in behalf of Susan Winder.
3o Pleasanton to Henshaw, May 24, 1832, found in ibid.
4. Pleasanton to Henshaw, July 6, 1832, found in ibid.
s. Pleasanton to Whittle, Aug. 13, 1832, found in ibid.
6. Pleasanton to Secretary of the Treasury, Dec. 18, 1832, found in ibid.
49 of the Assateague Island Lighthouse~7 Watson's appointment indicates
that the Assateague Lighthouse was completed and in operation by
the end of January 18330
In 1852 the Light-House Board, appointed by Secretary of the
Treasury Thomas Corwin, after making an exhaustive study "into
the condition of the light-house establishment of the United States,"
made its report. The Board found that Assateague Lighthouse was I located in latitude 37° 54' 36" North, and longitude 75° 21 1 45" West. It was a fixed light, "fitted with only eleven lamps and
fourteen-inch reflectors." The shoals off the southeastern coast
of Assateague Island made it mandatory that this light be improved.
This could be done, the Board reported, "by elevating the tower I to 150 feet, and placing in it a first order lens apparatus. 11 - The dangerous shoals which extended along this entire coast at "a considerable distance" from the low lying barrier islands,
at distances ranging from five to 12 miles, made it the government's
duty to see that Assateague Light was "increased in power and
range to rank of the first-class sea-coast light, without delay.~ 8
B. The Second Light
Eight years were to pass before the Congress acted on the
Board's recommendation in regard to Assateague Lighto On June 20,
Pleasanton to Whittle, Jan. 19, 1833, found in ibid.
Bo Report of the Officers Constituting tbe Light-House Board. o •• February 5, 1851, found in Executive Documents, Printed
50 1860, Congress appropriated $so,ooo "for the construction of a
first-class light-house at Assateague in lieu of the present light-
house." In Fiscal Year 1861 a crew was turned out and $3,108050
expended to select a site, construct a wharf, build a plank road
from the landing to the site, and to erect quarters for the labor
force. The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 caused the unexpended
funds to be impounded, and the construction crew to be laid off.
Upon the end of the War in 1865, the Lighthouse Board announced
that the '"increasing dilapidation" of the tower of the Assateague
Lighthouse had obliged it "to take· measures for building a new
one as authorized by Congress in 1860." Now that the Confederate
armies had been disbanded, it was recommended that there be no
further delayo Measures were taken by the Board to erect " a new
first class tower for this important sea-coast station." The
project engineer, Go Castor Smith, Acting Engineer of the 4th
Lighthouse District, soon discovered that the $50,000 voted by
Congress, five years before, would be "insufficient," because
of the inflation that had caused wages and prices paid for building materials to skyrocket. Congress accordingly on July 28, 1866, voted an additional $25,000 for the project.9
by Order of the Senate of the United States, During the 1st Session of the 32d Congress (Washington, 1852) .§., 136-1370
9o Clip File, Assateague, National Archives, Clipping File, RG 120
51 In 1866 the structures and roadway built in Fiscal Year 1861,
which had decayed, were repaired. The old tower was razed, new
foundations laid, and by September 1, the new brick tower had
reached a height of 37 feet" The brick was brought in by boat
and hauled to the crest of the sand ridge in carts pulled by oxen.
The oyster shell lime was burned near the site. By December 13,
when construction was suspended for the season, it was at the 95-
foot level. After the materials and tools had been secured and
left in charge of a watchman, the workmen returned to the mainland
for the winter.
Construction was resumed on March 1, 1867. The tower was
completed by the end of summer and the lantern put up. By September
25 the oil-house and Keeper's quarters were ready for occupancy.
J The illuminating apparatus was adjusted, and "the first-order
light shown • ; " for the first time on the evening of October 1,
1867"" On the 31st the lighthouse station was inspected and
accepted by the Lighthouse Board, and after the tools had been
secured the labor force was discharged.lo
The tower, when accepted by the Board, was 113 feet from its
base to the watchroom floor. It rested on a foundation of stone
masonry ten feet thick, and it had an "exterior conical and an
interior cylindrical wall with air spaces between." The cone
wall had a thickness of 27 inches at the base and 18 inches at
lOa Ibid.
52 the top; the cylindrical wall was 18 inches thick at the base and
nine inches at the top, with an interior diameter of ten feet six
inches, through which space passed a cast-iron spiral stairway to
the watch-room. The tower was entered through a single-storied
vestibule, divided into an oil-room and workroom, with a loft for
storage.11
The Keeper's quarters was a duplex, the front of which was
frame and the rear brick, being the quarters build by Porter in
1832 and converted into a kitchen. This structure was under one
roof and divided through the center by a partition, one section
for the principal Keeper and the other for the assistant Keepers.
The first floor of each was divided into two rooms with entry and stairway, and piazza eight feet wide across the front. On the second floor, the principal Keeper's apartment was divided into three rooms and the assistants' into two rooms. 12
In 1868 the Lighthouse Service undertook several minor pro- jects that use had shown were necessary. An iron hand-rail was put up in the tower as a safety feature, while the tower and oil- house were washed with brick-colored cementa A brass tablet with
11. Ibid. Assateague Lighthouse was equipped with a 1st Order Barbier & Fenestre lens, fixed, which illuminated 225° of the horizon. This lens, with a focal plane 153 feet above sea level, was lighted with three mechanical lamps.
12. Ibid.
53 the name of the station was positioned on the tower. The next
year, 1869, it was necessary to install wire gauze screens to keep
wild fowl from flying into the lantern. 13
The brick walk from the Keeper's quarters to the tower was
replaced by a plank walk in 1880, and the bricks that had been
taken up used to pave the tower yard. Other projects undertaken
at this time were: {a) the brickwork around the cellar windows
was repaired; {b) hoods were provided for the windows; (c) the
lining of the watch-room was renewed; (d) the steps to the lantern
repaired; {e) the stove pipe from the watch-room was carried
through the lantern roof; and {f) the tower and oil-room were
brick-washed on the exterior.14 I In 1885 additional funds were allotted by the Lighthouse - Service for maintenance of the Assateague Station. A new plank walk was laid from the Keeper's quarters to the tower, and a new pump
placed in the kitchen. Four years later, in 1889, a well was dug
and pipes laid for supplying the station with water, while a new
electric three-call bell was placed in the tower with connections
to the guarters.15
13. Ibid. The brass tablet reads, "Assateague Light House, Rebuilt 1866-1867, by the Light House Board, under Acts of Congress of June 20, 1860 and July 28, 1866."
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
54 The hurricane of September 1889 wrecked the station wharf,
and in the following year it was rebuilt. A new iron door in 1891
was hung in the passage leading from the watch-room to the gallery.
Meanwhile, a crew was employed to renew the fences and plank walks 16 on the station, and to build a 14 by 18-foot brick oil-house.
An inspection made at this time disclosed that the two
assistant Keepers were quartered in two rooms each. In these they
were required to "perform all the ordinary acts of life, such as sleeping, dressing, eating, and cooking in winter." To ease this
situation, it was recommended that $4,000 be budgeted for new
quarters for the principal Keeper, and, after this structure had been built, his former quarters would be made available to one of
the assistants.
Congress, however, refused to appropriate the necessary funds, and it was necessary in 1892 and 93 to remodel the Keeper's quarterso Additions were built to the structure to provide the assistants with "proper and necessary living rooms." As rebuilt the quarters contained three six-room apartments.17
The Lighthouse Service took advantage of the "Appropriation for National Defense," voted by Congress in 1898 to prepare for war with Spain to place a telephone in the Keeper's quarters.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid; Personal Interview, Melvina Shepherd with Bearss,
Dec 0 13, 1968. Melvina Shepherd, besides being exceptionally well informed on the history of Assateague and Chincoteague,is the granddaughter of one of the lighthouse Keepers--Samuel E. Quilleno
55 The telephone was connected with the line linking the Assateague
Island Life-Saving Stations.18
In 1900 a crew was employed to reset the "boundary monuments" north of the tower to correspond with the property line as re-
surveyed in 1896. Next, the laborers were turned to enclosing
the reservation with 4,210 feet of board fencing, while the barn- yard was fenced with 800 feet of board and wire-net fence. A brick walkway was laid from the west side of the quarters down the side of the hill and connecting with the road leading to the landing. About 725 cubic yards of grading was done around the tower and quarters, and 108,900 square feet of marsh sod laid in the core-area to prevent the sandy soil from being eroded by the wind. Two-hundred and eighty ornamental shrubs were set out as landscaping. Finally, an inch and one-quarter well, 26 feet in depth, was drilled in rear of the quarters occupied by the as sistant Keepers.19
Two years later, in 1902, a crew was turned out to extend the shell road from the station to the south boundary of the reservation. The road's berms were dressed, and adjacent beds of loose sand covered with pine needle beds. In 1007 frames for ruby glass were installed, and on February 20, the red sector light was exhibited for the first time.20
18. Clip File, Assateague, National Archives, Clipping File, RG 12. 19. Ibid.
20. Ibid. 56 In 1910 the government built quarters for a third assistant
Keeper, who ha.d been assigned to the lighthouse. This building,
known as the bungalow, was located on the ridge about 175 yards
west of the tower. Electricity was introduced into the tower
in 1932 and the oil lamps were dispensed with. This innovation
enabled the Lighthouse Service to reduce the staff necessary to
man the light, and the old quarters were declared surplus. In
1933 the old building, part of which dated back to 1832, was sold
and dismantled. The steps to the old quarters are still in evidence,
125 yards west of the tower. The bungalow built in 1910 still
stands and serves as quarters for the manager, Chincoteague National
Wildlife Refuge. 21 c. Site Evaluation and Recommendations
The Assateague Light is one of the area's most important historical resources, and it would complement the story of the
Life-Saving Service on Assateague Island. While the structure possesses historical significance and should be entered on the
National Register, the National Park Service will have no control over its use. At present, the United States Coast Guard retains title to the Assateague Lighthouse Station, and according to a decision made by Assistant Secretary Stanley Cain, the Fish
21. Personal Interview, Shepherd with Bearss, Dec. 13, 1968. Employees of the Wildlife Refuge, when erecting the pole and rail fence east of the bungelow, encountered the foundation of the old Keeper's quarters.
57 and Wildlife Service, not the National Park Service, will have the responsibility of interpretating the tower and its significance to visitors to the areao
In view of Dr" Cain's decision, the National Park Service, if it determines to tell the story of the Lighthouse Service on
Assateague Island, will have to do so in one of its Visitor
Centers rather than at the site" If and when the Coast Guard con- curs, the Fish and Wildlife Service will open the tower and interpret it for the benefit of the visitor to the area.
###### ### ## #
58
CHAPTER VIII
German Submarines Off Assateague
A. In World War I
Germany in 1918 sent submarines across the Atlantic to attack
shipping off the coast of the United States. These attacks pro-
vided the American public with its most vivid and immediate war
threat. In France, Erst Genera1quartiermeister Erich von Ludendorff
had launched a series of massive offensives designed to win the
war before American manpower could tip the scales against the
Central Powers. The great question was whether the allies could
holdout. Then in the first week of June came the headlines, "German
U-boat Raid on American Coast."
The United States having entered the conflict, Admiral Alfred
von Tirpitz determined to have some of his submarines cross the
Atlantic and operate off American ports. Deutschland had already made the voyage twice, as a merchantman, but she had found American waters a haven of refuge. Bremen, a sister ship, had been lost on a similar trip. The first submarine to leave Germany to attack shipping in the western Atlantic was U-151. The big mine laying
U-boat sailed from Kiel on April 18, 1918. In addition to laying mines in American waters and attacking shipping, she was to cut the trans-Atlantic cables off New York City.
59 May 25, 1918, found U-151 in American waters about 35 miles
southeast of Assateague Light. Earlier in the day, Korvettenkaptain
von Nostitz und Janckendorf had taken his vessel nearer the coast.
While his vessel ran along on the surface, the crew laid six mines.
Along toward noon at latitude 37° OS', the lookout sighted a three-
masted schooner on the horizon. Von Nostitz ordered the crew
below and took the submarine down to periscope depth and tracked
the schooner. When within 5,000 meters of the sailing ship, U-151
surfaced and the crew manned the deck guns. One shot was fir'ed
across the schooner's bow, and the signal "Leave the ship immedi-
atelyl" flashed. 1
The three-masted schooner encountered_by the U-boat was Hattie I Dunn, of 435 tons, bound from New York to Charleston, South Carolina.
The last thing in the world th~t Capt. Charles E. Holbrook of the
sailing ship expected to encounter in American coastal waters was
a German submarine, and he and his crew mistook U-151 for a United
States sub-chaser. Even when the German opened fire, Holbrook
believed it was target practice by naval reservists. It was not
until a second shell burst a quarter mile astern and a third struck
just off the weather quarter that he realized something was amiss.
The schooner was brought into the wind and now the crew could see
that the newcomer was a submarine. As she came up on Hattie Dunn,
1. Log of U-151, May 25, 1918, NA, Microcopy T-1022, Roll No. 30.
60 the German hoisted from her stern the flag of the German Navy, a
black cross on a field of white. As U-151 closed to within 200
yards, a small boat, manned by an officer and three men, put off
from the submarine. There was a slight swell, and the craft soon
made fast to Hattie Dunn, and the boarding party clambered aboard
intent on securing the ship's papers and some foodstuffs. Mean
while, Captain Holbrook and his seven-man crew had luanched the
schooner's lifeboat. Von Nostitz ordered the Americans to come
alongside, while bombs were placed in the schooner's hold. 2
While the boarding party was still checking the American
ship, which they found to be in ballast, the lookouts aboard U-151
sighted a £our-masted schooner at a distance of 10,000 meters. The
newcomer was holding a course toward the coast. Von Nostitz, after
J hailing his boarding party and the crew of Hattie Dunn and ordering them to follow his ship, started in pursuit of the schooner.
The crew of the new four-masted steel schooner Hauppauge,
1,446 tons, had heard U-151 shell Hattie Dunn. But not until th~y
saw the submarine, however, were they aware they were to be attacked.
Capt. John Sweeney, after it was too late, tried to escape by
2. Ibid.
61 tacking ship and driving her northwest for the shore at a speed
of five knots. The first shot from the submarine at a range of
B,000 meters fell astern, the second ripped through the ship's
beam about five feet above the waterline, and the third dropped
into her wake 75 feet astern. Captain Sweeney now called for his
crew to heave to, and U-151 closed to within 100 feet, while one
of the officers shouted, "Leave your ship immediately!" The 10-
man crew launched a boat, and came alongside U-151 without their
ship's papers. When Captain Sweeney was taken back aboard to
secure them, a boarding party accompanied him with three bombs.
Several coast and geodetic charts were taken from the schooner, which proved valuable to the Germans who planned to operate in comparatively shallow coastal waters.3
At 11:30 a.m. the bombs were detonated, and Hauppauge rolled over on her beam, but continued to float, her keel upward. The deck guns were trained on her and several shells thrown into her.
U-151, however, had no time to delay with derelicts for her lookouts had sighted on the horizon another schooner approaching with all sails set. The prize crew and the American sailors from
Hattie Dunn and Hauppauge having been taken aboard, the submarine started in pursuit of her next victim. Meanwhile, the bombs placed aboard Hattie Dunn had exploded, shattering her hull. The
3. Hauppauge was bound from New York to Portland, Oregon, and she, like Hattie Dunn, was in ballast.
62 submarine's third prize was destined to be Edna, a vessel of 325
tons. She had sailed from Philadelphia several days before, bound
for Santiago-de-Cuba, with 6,000 cases of oil and 4,000 crates
of gasoline. Edna was intercepted about 15 miles south of Winter
Quarter Lightship. Firing had been heard by the crew of Edna, but
they had mistaken it for American naval vessels at target practice.
Three shells were sent whistling across the schooner's track. The
peremptory command to "Leave Ship Immediately!" brought the American
to a halt, but not before one of the crew had mistaken the German
flag for St. George's Cross of Great Britain. A boarding party
put out from the submarine,and, midway to Edna, the officer in the
boat cupped his hands and shouted, "Put your ladder down. Throw J us a line. We are coming on board!" Enoch Roker, a member of the crew, recalled:
We lost no time in obeying and the whole boat load of Germans came tumbling on board. The first thing the lieutenant did was bawl out; 1 "Lower that flag, ' pointing to an American ensign which was fluttering aloft. None of us made a move so a German seaman was sent to haul it down. The young German officer seemed to be peeved. He turned to the captain and exclaimed; "You people don't seem to be very active. This is what you Americans need--something to stir you up a little bit. You need more U-boats on your coast." 4
4. Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, June 4, 1918; Henry J. James, Gennan Subs in Yankee Waters: First World War (New York, 1940), 22-24; Log of U-151, May 25, 1918.
63 The German officer, Fredrick I N. Gilmore, master of .adlJ..a, that he and his six-man crew had ten minutes in which to abandon ship, and then, as Gilmore was directing his sailors how to get their boat clear, the Gennan told him to come below. Subsequently, Gilmore told the press: I suppose I acted as if I was in a hurry to get away from the ship, for when he got below the Lieutenant said, "Don't get excited, Cap tain. Take your time. We'll be around here an hour and a half." So I picked up every thing I could think of that belonged to me, and when I got over to the submarine I found I'd left my new silk umbrella. After they blew up the schooner the Germans rowed back to the submarine and I found that besides the few things they had picked up themselves they brought me my umbrella. They took but a few cases of oilo5 The captain and crew of Edna were ordered into U-151. This swelled the passenger list to 26, which, when considering the cramped interior of the vessel, made crowded quarters for both crew and prisoners. The crew of Hattie Dunn consisted of elderly men. The youngest was a man of 40, and the oldest, the cook, was 72. He was a jovial fellow, a German by birth. In 1914 and 1915 he had sailed in ships of various nationalities in British waterso He had been torpedoed twice and once had been taken prisoner. Upon his release he had signed on an American ship to escape torpedoes and submarines. He had reshipped on Hattie Dunn, sail- ing to a southern port to get as far away as possible from the 5. New York Herald, June 4, 1918. 64 war zone. Now, once again, he found himself a prisoner on a U boa t. 6 The crew of Hauppauge were all young Dames and Norwegians; Edna's crew was mostly Negro. The captain of Edna, on going below, encountered the master of Hattie Dunn. Neither could speak for a moment, then they shook hands, slapped each other on the back, and shouted each other's name. They hadn't seen each other for 30 years. They had been I boyhood friends back in Saint George, Maine. Both still lived in that community, and their wives were close friends and saw each other almost every day. But for 30 years, the paths of these friends had not crossed. Their brief visits to Saint George had never coincided. Now the fortunes of war had brought them to J gether for their first reunion--as prisoners-of-war on a German U-boat.7 The three captains were permitted the liberty of the entire ship, except when U-151 submerged, at which time they were com pelled to remain in whatever compartment they happened to be. They used this privilidge to good advantage, and were able, after their release, to give United States naval intelligence officers a good description of the hostile craft. They found the submarine to be 213 feet in length, 29 feet in breadth, with a surface 6. Lowell Thomas, Raiders of the Deep (New York, 1928), 298. 7. Ibid., 298-299. 65 draught of 14 feet, and a displacement on the surface of 1,700 tons, and submerged of 2,100 tons. She had 1,300 horsepower engines, with a surface speed of 11.5 knots and a speed submerged of eight knots. Her fuel storage capacity was 250 tons, sufficient to take her 17,000 miles at a surface speed of six knots. U-15l's armament consisted of two 6-inch deck guns, two 22-pounders, one machine gun, six torpedo tubes, four in the bow and two in the stern, 12 torpedoes, 400 rounds of ammunition for each gun, and equipment to carry and lay 40 mines. On her deck she had a cable cutter. The complement was eight officers and 65 enlisted men. 8 While aboard the U-boat, the Americans were given the same food as their captors. The rations consisted of black bread, poor coffee, stewed fruit, and potato soup. Von Nostitz, after closely questioning the three captains, was satisfied that as yet the American authorities knew nothing of his presence off their coast. No fears had been voiced in the press and shipping circles that the Germans, despite the voyages of Deutschland, would be able to send submarines across the Atlantic on hostile missions. In addition, the men on the wireless, when they tuned in on American wave lengths, reported that the stations continued to send, HNo war warnings. 11 Von Nostitz accordingly determined to hold the crews of the three ships for as long as 8. William Bell Clark, When the U-Boats Came to America (Boston, 1929), 31-32. 66 possible and then to release them. Two of the small boats were lashed to the deck of U-151 to be used, when the opportunity was presented, to send the merchant sailors ashore.9 A course was now set for Delaware Bay. As the U-boat ran up the coast, she held a course about 30 miles to the seaward and parallel to Assateague Island. During the evening, a small vessel, probably a coast guard cutter, was sighted and evaded. U-151 by noon on May 25 had passed Ocean City. Still seeking to veil his mission in secrecy, Von Nostitz on the 25th sighted and avoided attacking four steamers. Three of these were evaded by submerging, while the Germans took advantage of the sunset to slip by a big 10,000-ton vessel. At 9:50 p.m. the Germans were within sight of the Cape May Light. 10 It was a beautiful night, with a bright J moon and unlimited visibility, so Von Nostitz took his craft down to periscope depth and steered a course toward the Overfall Lightship. Oberleutnant Frederick Korner recalled: We crept into Delaware Bay submerged, but not without difficulty. We were caught in strong currents that made our craft at times unmanageable. Once we struck bottom which frightened us badly, so we came to the surface. There were three steamers close by, so down we went again. We were not far from the lightship [600 meters] when we came to the surface again. 9. Log of U- 151, May 25, 1918. 10. Ibid., May 26, 1918. 67 Our men worked feverishly to drop our mines we had lashed on deck. These we placed in the main ship channel. Laying mines is a nerve-wracking job. A single slip and we would. all be blown to Kingdom Come. With this part of our job done we submerged again to prepare the rest of our mines, which we launched while submerged. When we came to the surface about 3 a.m. on • • • the 27th, a dense fog enshrouded the sea. We were not sure of our position. The currents had carried us this way and that during the night. We had cruised far up into Delaware Bay. Soundings indicated it would be hazardous to find our way out submerged. The water was shoal, and the traffic on the surface heavy.11 Von Nostitz thereupon determined to make a run for the ocean on the surface, trusting to the fog to hide his ship. The sound of sirens, foghorns, and ships' whistles seemed everywhere. Guided by the foghorns of the enemy ships, U-151 made her way down the bay. As the submarine passed the lightship, Captain Nostitz was heard to chuckle. At 10 a.m. U-151 submerged to avoid a large steamer and to permit the crew to get a few hours rest. As one of the Germans recalled, as the submarine lay on the bottom in 46 meters of water, 110ur distraught prisoners hadn't slept a wink during the exciting night. Now they too had a comfortable sleep. We were at the bottom of the sea, to be sure, but all was tranquil, all was peace. Our troubles, for the present at any rate, had been left behind on the surface of Delaware Bay. 11 1 2 11. James, German Subs in Yankee Waters, 31-32. 12. Thomas, Raiders of the Deep, 300-303; Lo9 of U-151, May 26-27, 1918. 68 The U-boat's next mission was to cut the cables off New York Harbor 0 Making her way up the New Jersey coast, U-151 arrived off Fire Island just after sundown on the 27th. The morning of the 28th was misty, with a gentle west wind, and calm sea. From the conning tower the Germans could see Fire Island beach, with the white houses standing out against the low green hillso The cable-cutting shears were dropped overboard, attached to a long wire rope. Back and forth, the submarine cruised, "trolling not for fish, but for any of the cables we might run across." When night closed in, the Germans could see the lights of Broadwayo From the morning of the 27th until the 30th, U-151 crossed and re- crossed what Von Nostitz hoped were the areas where the trans- Atlantic cables lay. Two cables were cut by the submarine. The first of these was one owned by the Commercial Cable Company, linking New York and Canso, Nova Scotia. It was snapped at 12:35 p.m. on the 28th, being severed at a depth of 25 fathoms. Captain Holbrook recalled how the submarine had given a sudden lurch and listed on her beam end on that day, and he attributed the maneuver to the effort to work the cable cutter. About three hours later, the U-boat cut the Central and South American Cable Company's New York-Colon cable at a point 28 miles south of where the first cable had been severed.13 13. Clark, When the U-Boats Came to America, 34-35; James, German Subs in Yankee Waters, 32-34; Thomas, Raiders of the Deep, 304-305; Log U-151, May 27-31, 1918. 69 On the morning of May 30, the cable snears were hauled in, and the submarine made a run toward the Fire Island Lightship" Taking position near the lightship, the submarine lay submerged until 1:35 as Von Nostitz and his officers used the periscope to study passing shipping. The vessel then headed northeastward and surfaced at sunset" A crash dive was made at 8:40 when the look outs spotted an American destroyer. The Germans planned to spend the last day of May and June 1 observing shipping lanes between Fire Island and Nantucket Islando It was foggy on the 31st, and Von Nostitz conned a course toward Nantucket, from where he planned to proceed to attack shipping off the coast of Maine. It was still foggy on June 1, and Von Nostitz, after being informed by his captured captains that this condition would con tinue as long as the wind was from the southwest, determine to head down the coast and to destroy as much shipping as possible before returning to Germany. By 8:40 a.m. on June 2, U-151 had reached latitude 390 20' N and longitude 73° 14' W, and the fog had cleared" Hunting was good during the day as she sent to the bottom off the New Jersey and Delaware coasts six vessels--three steamers and a similar number of schooners--of 14,518 gross tons. The captains and crews of the three vessels attacked off Assateague on May 25 were called on deck and released at this time. After being provided with fresh water and provisions, they were dis tributed among the lifeboats of the ships sent to the bottom on the 2do 70 The next day, the 3d, found the U-boat in position a safe distance off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. In the period, June 3-10, the submarine, as she made her way southward as far as Cape Hatteras, sent to the bottom eight more vessels. One of these was the Norwegian steamer Vindeggan sent to the bottom on June 10. Aboard Vindeggan was a helmsman with a wife and child. While some of the copper Vindeggan carried was being transferred to U-151, Mrs. Ugland and her daughter, Eva, were transferred to the submarine and given use of the officers' quarters. The German sailors, particularly the cook, did their utmost to please the child with delicacies. They bounced her on their knees, and sought to entertain her in their rough fashion. A superabundance of J sweets,together with jostling and rolling of the ship made it necessary for the mother to intervene until Eva recovered from her over-indulgence in German submarine hospitality. After about 80 tons of copper ingots had been transferred, Vindeggan was sent to the bottom. The submarine then started for the North Carolina coast towing the lifeboats, into one of which Mrs. Ugland and her daughter had been placed. About 5 p.m. a smoke cloud was sighted on the horizon, and, after the boats were cut adrift, U-151 started in pursuit. 14 14. Thomas, Raiders of the Deep, 308-322; James, German Subs in Yankee Waters, 32-58; Log of U-151, June 3-10, 1918. 71 Two more vessels (both barks) were sunk off the coast of the United States, before the U-boat started back to Germany. While en route back to Kiel, she sent three steamers to the bottom. Skirting the Shetland Islands, U-151 cut across the North Sea, passed through the Skagerrack and down the Kattegat, to avoid the British minefield. On July 20 she was met outside Kiel by the submarine flotilla commander and his staff, including the Kaiser's son, Prince Adalbert. During her three-month cruise, U-151 had successfully attacked 23 ships, of which three were subsequently salvaged. The gross tonnage of the vessels destroyed was 50,885.15 (See Appendix B for table listing vessels destroyed by U-151.) Five other U-boats crossed the Atlantic before the end of World War I and raided along the Atlantic coast of the United States. These vessels and their captains were: (a) U-156, Comdr. Richard Feldt, left Germany about June 15, 1918, and operated along the Atlantic seaboard from July 5 to September 1. While en route back to Germany, she struck a mine in the North Sea barrage and was lost with all hands. While in American waters, U-156 destroyed 34 vessels of 33,582 gross tons. (b) U-140, Comdr. Kophamel, left Germany on June 22, 1918, and raided in American waters from July 14 to September 1. During this period she sent to the bottom seven vessels of 30,594 gross tons. (c) U-117, Comdr. Dr5scher, left Germany in July 1918 and returned in company with U-140. Twenty-three vessels of 27,485 gross tons were destroyed by U-117 in American waters. 15. Thomas, Raiders of the Deep, 332; Clark, When The U-Boats Came to America, 315. 72 (d) U-155, Comdr. Eckelmann, left Germany in August 1918, and was off the American coast from September 7 to October 20, and returned to Germany a few days after the Armistice. While in American waters, she destroyed 7 vessels of 17,485 gross tons. (e) U-152, Comdr. Franz, left Germany in August 1918, and was in American waters from September 29 to October 20, anq arrived back in Germany after the Armistice. She, while in American waters, destroyed two vessels of 6,876 gross tons. One of these vessels, U-117, was off the coast of Assateague Island at the beginning of the third week of August. As she ran down the coast, she laid seven mines a short distance south of Fenwick Island Lighthouse and eight more south of Winter Quarter Shoal Lightship. Having completed her task by the morning of I August 15, she at 7:15 a.m. came upon the American motor schooner Madrugada of 1,613 tons, in 37° 30' N., 74° 38' W., a short dis- - tance southwest of Winter Quarter Shoal. U-117 surfaced about two miles away and opened fire. The first shot fell 100 feet over the starboard bow; the second, 20 feet ahead; the third, slightly off the port bow; while the fourth struck the engine- room. After the third shot, Capt. Frederick Rouse and his 20-man crew cleared a lifeboat over the starboard rail and kept in lee of the ship until the submarine ceased fire. Not so Frederick L. Cook, a navy electrician on board. Cook stuck to the ship under shell fire until he had sent out a wireless call for help. Then, with the vessel sinking under him, he leaped overboard and swam to the lifeboat. 73 While Cook remained on board, two more shots were fired at Madrugada. Then U-117 moved up closer and fired three projectiles into the stern and cabin at pointblank range. An oil tank caught fire and Madrugada was ablaze as she sank. Four hours later, the steamer Taunton picked up the crew. They had saved nothing, many of them being half-dressed and shoeless. The schooner, as a result of l,ooo tons of cement in her hold which settled into the stern, j remained a menace to navigation for more than a week, with her bowsprit sticking out of the water. The hulk was then destroyed by the Coast Guard cutter Gresham. 16 The last vessel to be sunk off the Atlantic coast in World War I occurred on November 9, just two days before the Armistice. I The victim was u.s.s. Saetia, an army cargo carrier of 2,458 tons. Saetia was headed for the Delaware and at 9:05 a.m., she struck one of the mines laid in August by U-117, ten miles south-south- east of Fenwick Island Light. After the explosion, the vessel listed violently, settling heavily at the stern. A second explosion occurred in the boilers, after which the water flooded into the ship until only the bow remained above the surface. Four boats got away with 47 men. Nineteen of the crew took to a life raft and the remainder jumped overboard. Two of the boats reached Cape Henlopen, and the crew of the Ocean City Coast Guard Station 16. Clark, When U-Boats Came to America, 220-221; Log of Q.-11.Z, Aug. 15, 1918, NA, Microcopy T-1022, Roll No. 30. 74 put out in their power surfboat. The cutter picked up as many of those floating on the sea as she could carry and headed back to- ward the beach, but she was swamped a mile from shore. All on board were rescued. Additional survivors were brought to land until 57 had been accounted for. Later that night 28 more were rescued. Thirteen of the survivors reported various types of in- juries, the majority of which resulted from being hurled against the wreckage or rafts by the waves. 17 The site of the sinking of Saetia would be about ten miles northeast of Assateague Island National Seashore. Mr. Quillen was assigned to the Ocean City Coast Guard Station and participated in the rescue of the survivors. B. In World War II In World War II German submarines were also active off Assateague Island. Several vessels were sunk within sight of the Pope's Island Coast Guard Station. 18 On December 12, 1941, the day after Germany declared war on the United States, Reichsruhrer Adolf Hitler met with Grossadmiral Erich Raeder, and the decision to send U-boats to operate in the western Atlantic was made. It 17. Clar~ When U-boats Came to America, 306-307; Personal Interview, Quill~n with Bearss, Dec. 11, 1968. 18. Personal Interview, Norman Jones with Bearss Dec. 13, 1968. Jones who was stationed at Pope's Island Coast Guard Station during World War II, saw two ships torpedoed during the submarine blitzkrieg of 1942. The crews of these vessels were rescued by a 75-foot Coast Guard patrol boat. 75 took Admiral Karl Doenitz a month to redeploy his submarines. The first attack was made on January 12, 1942, when U-123 sent the British steamer Cyclops to the bottom, 300 miles east of Cape Cod. Two days after Cyclops went down, German submarines moved into the area off Capt Hatteras. A large Panamanian tanker, Norness, was sunk on January 14. U-boats were also active off Assateague Island. On April 12 the unarmed collier David H. Atwater was sunk by a submarine's gunfire at a range of about 600 yards. Her crew of 27, given no opportunity to abandon ship, were sprayed with machine gun fire; only three sailors survived. 19 In the period January-June 1942 enemy submarines sunk 360 merchants ships, totaling 2,2so,ooo gross tons, in the western Atlantic and Caribbean. During the same period allied forces in these same waters accounted for eight U-boats--about as many new submarines were being launched every ten days. Admiral Doenitz boasted at this time, "Our submarines are operating close inshore along the coast of the United States of America, so that bathers and sometimes entire coastal cities are witnesses to the drama of war, whose visual climaxes are constituted by the red glorioles of blazing tankers." 20 19. Samuel Eliot Morison, ~Battle of the Atlantic, September 1939-May 1943 (Boston, 1950), 126-127, 133. David H. Atwater was sunk at 376 46' N, 75° OS' w. 20. Ibid., 156-157. 76 Gen. George C. Marshall at the same time was complaining to Admiral Ernest J. King that "the losses by submarines off our Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean now threatens our entire war effort." 21 The tide now began to turn, as anti-submarine measures worked out by the United States and her British allies began to take effect. At the same time, the Germans recalled most of their submarines operating off the coast of the United States. When the German U- boats returned to our coasts in force in 1943, the United States was ready. In 1943 allied losses to submarines were announced by the United States and His Majesty's government as 40% under 1942; the greatest part of this radically reduced loss was suffered in the first quarter of 1943.22 In the second half of 1943 more U-boats were sunk than allied ships torpedoed, and in 1944 and 1945, despite brief, desperate rallies by submarine "wolfpacks, 11 the discrepancy widened. c. Recommendations It is recommended that the story of submarine warfare in World Wars I and II along the Atlantic Coast of the United States, be interpreted to the Visitor to Assateague Island National Seashore. 21. Morison, The Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War (Boston, 1963), 135. 22. Walter Karig, Earl Burton, and Stephen L. Freeland, Battle Report: The Atlantic War (New York, 1946), 98. 77 This is a vital story that has received slight, if any attention, in other areas of the National Park System. To point up its im- portance, we have only to realize that Germany's policy of unre stricted submarine warfare was the single most important cause for America's declaration of war against Germany in 1917. To strike back at the United States, Germany in 1918 sent U-boats across the Atlantic to carry the war to our shores. The first successful attacks by a U-boat in United States coastal waters occurred about 30 miles southeast of the Toms Cove area of the National Seashore. The last ship to be sent to the bottom off our coast in 1918 was within ten miles of Assateague Island. In World War II German submarines returned to the coast of the United States. Ships were torpedoed within sight of Assateague Island. The U-boats in the first six months of 1942 took a terrible toll, but then the United States and her allies gained the upperhand. Many military historians consider the battle of the Atlantic as one of the decisive actions of World War II. The story of German submarine attacks on shipping and the counter-measures adopted by the United States to cope with and defeat this threat is dynamic. It will command great human interest, as many visitors will be veterans of the battle of the Atlantic or can vividly recall World War I and II reports of these actions carried by the news media. Sufficient research is available to interpret the actions of German U-boats off Assateague in World War I, but information on their World War II activities off the 78 National Seashore is deficient. Consequently, the Division of History, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, should prepare a study of German submarine activities in World War II off Assateague and American counter-measures centering on the island. ###### ##### #### #### ## 79 CHAPTER IX Villages And Communities A. North Beach The North Beach community never consisted of more than a few cottages, in addition to the Life-Saving Station and Birch's Salt- Works. James Quillen, who was stationed at North Beach from 1907- 1909, reported that he was married at that time, and when not on duty he lived with his wife in a house several hundred yards south of the stationo Two other married men assigned to the station, Dave Smallwood and Ephraim Townsend, also lived at home when not on dutyo Their cottages were south of the Quillens. The Keeper, John Hudson, lived with his family farther down the island. It was during the inactive season, while Quillen was assigned to North Beach and living nearby, that Captain Hudson drowned in the station cistern.1 The Quillens and the other families fenced their lots and kept gardens. To supplement his income from the Life-Saving Service, Quillen trapped muskrats. 2 lo Personal Interview, Mr. & Mrs. James Quillen with Bearss, Dec. 11, 1968. James Quillen served in the Life-Saving Service and Coast Guard from 1907-1929. 2. Ibid. 80 Mrs. Addie Carey recalled that in her youth,the young people from Sinepuxent Neck picnicked at North Beach. In the summer, when only the Keeper was at the station, he would let the young people stay in the quarters. When they visited the island, the boats on which they came over from the mainland tied up at the station landing, located on a gut,· near Little Egging Beach. This would be in the same area as the ferry landing, which served the 3 island before the construction of the Sandy Point bridge. When the North Beach Station was built in 1883-84, there was at least one dwelling house nearby. The deed conveying the one- half acre of ground on which the station was to be located, recorded that James Birch's "dwelling house on the beach" was ~;ituated to the southwest.4 A one-room school (School No. 6) was located in the community The school was located near the middle of the island, a short distance north of Birch's salt-works. 5 B. Green Run Inlet 1. Scott's Ocean House The most important and best known business in this village was James (Captain Jimmy) Scott's Ocean House. Built on the bay 3. Personal Interview, Mrs. Carey with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. 4. Oeed, James & Elizabeth Birch to United States, June 1883, Deed Record, Liber No. 9, ITM, Worcester County Courthouse. 5. Lake, Griffing, and Stevenson, Atlas of Worcester County, 1877; Personal Interview, Mrs. Carey with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. 81 side of the island, in the 1870s, the hotel was enlarged as business boomed. Judge Walter Price of Snow Hill recalled that the Ocean House was a large two-story structure, with about 20 bed- rooms upstairs. As the structure fronted on three sides of a quadrangle, all the bedrooms faced to the outside. On the first floor of the building were found the lobby, bar, dance hall, kit- chen, and privies. The bedrooms were furnished with highboys, lowboys, and beds of mahogany. Later brass bedsteads were sub- stituted for those of mahogany. The bar was a solid block of mahogany 2 feet X 30 inches X 20 feet. 6 In the 1880s the hotel was so popular that reservations for rooms had to be made weeks in advance. It was famous for its menu, which featured fish, crabs, and oysters. Musicians played nightly in a large dance hall. To reach the hotel from Snow Hill, guests would take a hack to Scott's Landing. From there, Capt. Frederick Conner's sailing sloop Fairfield made frequent trips across the bay to the dock at the Ocean House. It was fashionable in the late 1880s for large parties of young people to book in at the hotel under the chaperonage of a young married woman. According to The Democratic Messenger: 6. Personal Interview, Judge Walter Price of Snow Hill, Mary land, with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. Judge Price's father was admin istrator for James Scott's estate. In 1870 James Scott listed his occupation as a farmer, but in 1880 he listed himself as a hotel keeper. This would indicate that he built the Ocean House in the 1870s. 82 There was no selfishness or clannishness existing. All mingled with each other, each one endeavoring to make the other as happy as possible. The young ladies were all sweet, pretty and attractive ••• ; the young men were just as attentive and ardent in their wooings •••• , the sun shown just as brightly •• and all went "as merry as a marriage bell." These young people were in the habit of catching an ox cart for the ocean beach just at sun-up, before the older people were about to spoil the fun. The Ocean House also became a popular vacation spot for the clergy. The Catholic Bishop of Wheeling, West Virginia, came each year with many of his priests, and other men of the cloth came from as far off as Ohio. They found the bathing delightful, enjoyed the simple quiet island scenes, and stuffed themselves with seafood. 7 I The Ocean House remained in operation until about 1913. Mrs. Indiana Henry recalled that in 1912 she married Dale Henry, who was assigned to the Green Run Inlet Life-Saving Station. The newly weds lived in a cottage near the station. The hotel at this time was still booking guests, she reported. She recalled the structure as a handsome two-story gray building, with white trimming. 8 Judge Price recalled that when he first saw the hotel it was vacant. He had gone out to Green Run to hunt, and the only 7. Personal Interview, Watson and Price with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968; Undated article, Saulsbury Times "Favorite Beach Century Ago was Green Run," found in files Assateague Island National Sea shore. 8. Personal Interview, Mrs. Henry with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. 83 occupants of the Ocean House were a sow and her nine pigs.9 The Ocean House was subsequently razed, the lumber salvaged, and shipped, to the mainland. 2. The Village In the 1870s and 1880s the village at Green Run consisted of a number of families. The Historical Atlas of Worcester County, 4 I published in 187~ shows ten families residing in the community. Judge Price reported that there were never more than 30 families in the area. While some of these people were employed at the Ocean House, most of them made their living as watermen, or served as surfmen in the Life-Saving Service. By the beginning of the 20th Century, the village was dying. Most of the structures were removed to the mainland. The houses that remained were rented to the families of the Life-Savers. Mrs. Henry recalled that in 1912 her husband's cottage was near the station. Another cottage, occupied by another Life-Saver's family, was nearby. By the time Green Run Inlet Coast Guard Sta tion was decommissioned in 1937 these cottages had disappeared.IO 3. Green Run Inlet Cemetery Today only one stone marker remains to identify the community cemetery. This stone is inscribed, "Emma F., 1st Wife of 9. Personal Interview, Price with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. 10. Personal Interviews, Mrs. Henry, Mr. Watson, Judge Price, and Norman Jones with Bearss, Dec. 12 & 13, 1968. B4 Jesse J. Truitt, Departed This Life, Dec. 12th, 1874, Aged 16 years, 2 mos. & 28 days." Emma F. Truitt was the daughter of Captain Scott, and she met death when en route from the mainland out to the island in her husband's catboat. A sudden and unexpected shift in the wind caused a jibboom to swing wildly, and she was knocked overboard and drowned. In 1946 when Reginald Truitt first visited the cemetery there were at least 24 additional headboards. These headboards, along with the smaller footboards, were made of teak and had been carved by island craftsmen with mallet and chisel. By 1965, when Assateague Island National Seashore was established, only six of these hand I carved markers remained. These have now been carried off by van- C. Pope's Island The Pope's Island community never achieved the importance of the settlement at Green Run Inlet. Mr. Watson, whose family came from Pope's Island, could recall the name of only one family, besides his own,which had lived there at the time of the Civil Waro 11. Personal Interviews, Reginald Truitt with Bearss, Dec. 9, 1968, and Watson and Price with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968; Truitt to Wickware, March 27, 1968, file Assateague Island NS. Dr. Truitt, besides being a local historian, was Professor of Zoology and Agriculture at the University of Maryland. 85 This family's surname was Powell. 12 Ex-Coast Guardsman Norman Jones stated that at the time he was stationed at Pope's Island in the 1930s there were no families living in the vicinity of the station. In his father's day, there had been a few scattered settlements near the Virginia-Maryland line. Names which he could recall were: Pope and Babbitt. 13 D. Assateague Village 1. The Village Life on Assateague Island was not easy. The islanders' homes were constructed with a view toward protection from the elements more than comfort. Clean white sand, which was washed I at periodic intervals, served as flooring. Heat was obtained from wood, light from fish oil, which was burned in oyster and - clam shells. The village was located north and east of the SO-acre Light- house Reservation. At the turn of the century, the population of the village was about 2250 By 1915, not counting the lighthouse Keepers' and their households, there were 25 to 30 families in Assateague Villageo The village's decline commenced about 1922, after Dr. Samuel B. Fields of Baltimore acquired most of the land on the Virginia portion of Assateague Island. Fields had his 12. Personal interview, Watson with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. 13. Personal interview, Jones with Bearss, Dec. 13, 1968. 86 land east of the reservation fenced and posted. His overseer, Oliphant, who lived in a bungalow across the road from the old Life-Saving Station, refused to permit the villagers to cross Field's property to get to Toms Cove. With their access over the shell road to the cove closed, the villagers began to move off the island. Their houses were jacked up, placed on skids, and taken to the waterfront. There they were placed on barges and floated across Assateague Channel to be relocated on Chincoteague Islando The last person to leave the village was Bill Scott, who had operated the village's one general store. Scott's house still stands, but his store has collapsed. 14 2. Village School In 1890 the Accomack County School Board built a one- room school and hired a teacher for all the grades through the sixtho The first year there were 40 pupils, the number required by state law to operate a school with public fundso Some as young as three years old were sent by their parents to insure that the attendance requirement was met. The villagers provided wood to heat the school, while the Lighthouse people supplied coal oil for lighting. 14. Personal Interviews, Melvina Shepherd and Norman Jones with Bearss, Dec. 13, 19680 87 Until 1919 the school also served the community as a church. Prayer meetings were held on Thursday nights and on Sundays the regular services and Sunday School.ls 3. Village Church In 1919 the Union Baptist Church of Chincoteague and its pastor, Reverend o. W. Sawyer, got the residents of Assateague to pledge enough money to build a small church. 16 4. Village Cemetery The village cemetery is located on a sandy ridge about 100 yards northeast of the Assateague Island end of the bridge spanning Assateague Channel. Today only three of the graves are marked. Two of these stones (one marking the grave of Arahl Jones and the other that of her husband, John Assateague Jones) are en- closed by a wire fence. Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Jones are the paternal grand parents of Norman Jones.17 The other stone, is a military marker, and identifies the grave of a Civil War soldier, Thomas Watson of Company A, Loyal Eastern Virginia Volunteers. A 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid. 17. Arahl Jones was born in May 1831 and died February 21, 1877, while John A. Jones was born October 6, 1830, and died May 30, 1911. Personal Interview, Jones with Bearss, Dec. 13, 1968. 88 reconnaissance of the ridge disclosed the outlines of other graves, but the headboards have been carried off by vandals or knocked down by livestock. S. Structures Found on Typical Village Lot The village was never platted so the lots varied in size and configuration. All lost were fenced, but there were no gates, stiles being used instead. Some fences were of wire, others of boards. In addition to their framP house, each family had an outbuilding, which served a multitude of functions--smoke- house, toolship, barn, etc; a privy; and chicken house. Besides 18 chickens, each family kept ducks and geese. 6. Gardens Each family kept a garden. A number of gardens were on the tract between the shell rc•ad and the village. In their gardens, the villagers raised potatoes, onions, corn, snap beans, and other garden vegetables. The potatoes and onions were planted in March. To insure a supply of vegetables in the winter, the villagers kept shadow boxes. 19 7. Livestock The villagers kept and butchered hogs. Unlike the horses and sheep which were permitted to run on the open range, 18. Personal Interview, Melvina Shepherd and Norman Jones with Bearss, Dec. 13, 1968. 19. Ibid. 89 the hogs were kept penned. The hogs were always butchered on Sunday. There were very few cattle in the community. Scott kept a cow for use by members of the community who were sick and required a milk diet.20 E. Site Evaluation and Recommendations Of the four villages or communities formerly located within the boundary of the National Seashore, only two (Green Run Inlet and Assateague Village) were of any significance. Of these two, Assateague Village is situated in an area for which the Fish and Wildlife Service has administrative responsibility, and as such that agency will oversee its interpretation and protection. The National Park Service will be responsible for the interpretation, development, and protection of the other village sites. Markers identifying the sites will suffice at North Beach and Pope's Is- land, but more extensive development is warranted at Green Run Inlet •. Here the Service should tell the story of Scott's Ocean House, the watermen, and life on the island in the period 1860- 1915. The Cemetery should be protected, and an archeological project programmed to relocate and mark the other grave-sites. The site of the Ocean House and the schoolhouse should be marked and interpreted. 20. Ibid. ###### #### 90 CHAPTER X Economic Activities Other Than Livestock Raising and Hunting A. Egging Among the minor occupations that drew people to the barrier islands was that of gathering sea birds' eggs in season. The center of this activity appears to have been two sandy islands off the south point of Sinepuxent Neck, but near the beach. These islands, the breeding places of a multitude of sea birds, are known as Great Egg Beach and Little Egg Beach, or as they are sometimes referred to as Great and Little Egging Beaches. In the 1890s and earlier, they were the goal of annual picnics organized on the nearby mainland. Other "egging" areas were: (a) in the Green Run Beach section; and (b) near North Beach. Individuals living in the old beach communities regularly supplemented their diet in season with eggs from these beaches. How early this practice originated, it is impossible to de- termine. But on April 1, 1772, there was surveyed for James Purnell Robins a tract designated "Robins' Convenience," beginning "at the North West end of the Highest Sand hill on an Island or ,, 1 beach called the Egg Beach. lo Land Office, Unpatented Certificate Noo 1129, Worcester County. This land was resurveyed for James Bo Robins, June 4, 1807, 91 B. Gathering Driftwood Another beach "crop was driftwood and ships' timbers cast up by the waves." An island, Lumber Marsh, is located in the sound at the old entrance to Sinepuxent Inlet, where in times past it intercepted much floating debris drawn into, or toward, that inlet on the tides. 2 c. Salt-Works An important industry of the barrier islands was salt-working. As early as 1628 the Virginia Council took steps to locate sites and called "Egg Beach Island." (Land Office, Patented Certificate No. 856A, Worcester County). It is described as lying off the thoroughfare (inlet?) at South Point. On June 21, 1809, Benjamin Purnell took up "Burnt Island," 2 1/2 acres, situated "between the Islands called the large Egg Beach Island and the Lumber Marsh." ~ (Land Office, Unpatented Certificate Noo 225, Worcester County.) "Purnell's Choice," 3 acres, surveyed for Benjamin Purnell and Nathanel Davis, on June 21, 1809, lay between Brant Island and Large Egg Beach Island. (Land Office, Unpatented Certificate No. 1091, Worcester County.) On his chart of the 0 Waters between Chincoteague Inlet and Fenwick's Island," 1835, J. H. Alexander refers to Egg Islands as i'Sinepuxent Hummock." Martinet's Atlas of Maryland, 1866, has "Egging Beach," while Great and Little Egg- ing Beach are both depicted on Lake, Griffing, and Stevenson's Atlas of Worcester County, 1877; Marye, "The Sea Coast of Maryland," Maryland Historical Magazine, 40, No. 2, 109-110; Personal Interview, Mrs. Carey with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. Mrs. Carey, who is 96 years old, vividly recalls the pinics to Great and Little Egg Beaches and that they would bring home great numbers of eggs, both wild- foul and turtle. 2. Marye, "The Sea Coast of Maryland," Maryland Historical Magazine, 40, No. 2, 110. 92 on the Eastern Shore convenient 11 for experimenting in making salt by the sun," 3 and by 1630 a salt-works was operating "at Accomack." 4 As late as 1852 there were salt-works on Chincoteague Inlet, at the southern end of Assateague Island.s The history of salt-making in Maryland is obscure. During the first half of the 18th Century salt was scarce in Maryland, being insufficient in quantity to meet the demands of its fisheries and the needs of the stock belonging to the planters. More than once the Assembly took steps with a view of securing permission of Parliament to import salt from Europe, particularly from Portugal, 6 where it was cheap. But there is no evidence that this demand re- sulted in the establishment of salt-works on the Maryland barrier islands. With much of their European supply of salt cut off by the Revolutionary War, the Baltimore Salt Company established a salt- works at Sinepuxent Inlet. On December 14, 1777, the Council directed Capto Alexander Furnival to take nine Hessian prisoners- 3. Minutes of the Council of Colonial Virginia, 174. 4o Ibid., 480. 5. Fielding Lucus, Map of Maryland, 18520 6. Archives of Maryland, Vol. 27, 27, 457; Volo 29, 3 6; Vol 45, 2; Vol 46, 68, 80, 81; Vol SO, 266, 2670 93 of-war to the "Salt Works at Sinnepuxent" under an order of the Board of War, or as many of them as were willing to goo 7 Alex- ander's chart of 1835 shows these salt-works as located on the beach due east of Lumber Marsh, while maps of a later date, 1877 and 1885, show them in approximately the same locationo 8 Mrs. Addie Carey recalled seeing the remains of Birch's salt- works near North Beach in the 1920s. She recalled the rusting l iron evaporating troughs on Salt-Works Creeko9 In 1964 Mr. Ed Winbrow (now deceased), accompanied by a TV camera crew, visited the site of an old salt-works, which he called Jones'. The rusted wrought iron salt pans and brick footings were still in evidence. I questioned the park staff as to the where- I abouts of this site, but they, as yet, have been unable to pinpoint "t 10 l 0 7. Archives 0£ Maryland, 16, 435; 45, 48. Dr. Truitt in 1945 informed Marye,"! remember quite well being told about the colonists or the British (it was always indefinite and seemingly far removed) having run tremendous evaporating plants on that area [North Beach]. The story was that the salt was lightered across the Bay and freighted by ox cart up the Peninsula, on the one hand, or shipped to New York by schooner on the other." Truitt to Marye, Feb. 3, 1945, found in Marye, "The Sea Coast of Mary land," Maryland Historical Magazine, 40, No. 2, 111. 8. Lake, Griffing, and Stevenson's Atlas of Worcester County, 1877, 50-51, shows Birch's Salt Works south of east of Lumber Marsh. Martinet's Map of Maryland, 1885, shows the works south east of Lumber Marsh. 9. Personal Interview, Mrs. Carey with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. 10. Personal Interview, Gordon Noreau with Bearss, Dec. 10, 1968. 94 D. Fish Factories on Toms Cove In May 1912 the Seaboard Oil and Guano Company of Reedville, Virginia, opened a fish oil plant on Toms Cove. Thomas Jett was the plant manager. The factory operated on a seasonal basis from May to November. Two shifts were employed--50 men in the daytime and 25 at night. Generally, the night crew unloaded the ships which tied up at the company dock. The fish were carried on a conveyor up onto an elevated platform and shoveled into hoppers. After being cooked, the fish were pressed, the oil extracted, and the scrap (bones, skins, meat, and entrails) was moved by a con- veyor into a drying shed. The oil was barreled and the dried scrap sacked in 100-pound bags, preparatory to shipment aboard schooners J which tied up at the wharf. The factory owned by the Seaboard Oil and Guano Company burned in 1916. A second fish factory was built on Toms Cove in 1919 by the Conant Brothers of Chincoteague. This plant was located on the cove about one-fourth mile west of the ruins of Seaboard Oil and Guano Company's plant. The Conant's plant closed in 1928 or 1929, because the cove had silted up so badly that ships could no longer tie up at the dock.II The remains of the factory owned by the Seaboard Oil and Guano Company are impressive, while those of the Conant's plant, which was dismantled, can only be pinpointed with difficulty. II. Personal Interviews with Melvina Shepherd and Norman Jones, Dec. 13, 1968. 95 E. Hunting and Fishing Most of the persons who resided on Assateague Island or earned a living there, not employed by the Federal Government as Life- Savers (Coast Guard) or Lighthouse Keepers, made their living as watermen. Those living in Assateague Village worked the Toms Cove oyster and clam beds, while those residing at Pope's Island, Green Run Inlet, and North Beach fished the waters of Chincoteague Bay and Sinepuxent Inlet. When not on duty, the surfmen assigned to the Life-Saving Stations relaxed and supplemented their rations by hunting and fishing. With the construction of the railroad through Snow Hill in the 1870s, Assateague Island became a mecca for duck and geese hunters from all parts of the Middle Atlantic States. Many of the islanders and those living on the Maryland and Virginia shores of the bay found employment as guides and in other occupations catering to the wants of hunters. Blinds and hunting camps were erected at strategic points along the bay side of Assateague Is- land.12 F. Site Evaluation and Recommendations 1. Salt-Works It is urged that an effort be made by Rangers assigned to the Park staff to locate Jones' Salt-Works. When these works 12. Personal Interviews Mrs. Carey, Judge Price, and Mr. Watson with Bearss, Dec. 12, 1968. 96 have been pinpointed, they should be marked and interpreted for the benefit of the visitor. 2. Fish Factories The remains of the factory operated by the Seaboard Oil and Guano Company are impressive. These remains should be identified and stabilized. The story of the Toms Cove fish fac- tories should be interpreted in a nearby Visitor Center. 3. Hunting and Fishing The blinds and hunting camps located in the Maryland section of Assateague Island National Seashore constitute a re- source to be used in interpreting this phase of the area's history and the role of the watermeno ######## ##### ### 97 CHAPTER XI THE EXTENSION OF THE HOOK AT 1DMS COVE The silting-in process in Toms Cove has changed the environ- mental factors so that it is now becoming submarginal for the clam and oyster industry which played a major role in the area's economy for over 100 years. It was also the prime reason for closing down the fish factory operation and the Assateague Coast Guard Station. Coast and Geodetic charts dating to the 1850s do not show Toms Cove. The hook area on Assateague was formed when the littoral currents, carrying large amounts of sediment, encountered strong conflicting tidal currents. In the 1850s the charts show no hook and the shore line near the present Ranger Station. By the time the fish factories were built, the hook had extended over two miles in a southwesterly direction and Toms Cove had been formedo Assateague Coast Guard Station was built near the tip of the hook in 1922; and by 1968 the hook had extended another two miles to the west. 1 1. Personal Interviews with John Hunter and Norman Jones, Dec. 10,11, & 13, 1968. John Hunter is District Ranger. 98 Site Evaluation and Recommendations The creation and extension of the hook and Toms Cove is a vital and interesting story. Here the Service has an outstanding example of the effect of geography on man. r ######## ##### ### 99 CHAPTER XII Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge In 1943 the United States government established the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, a wildlife haven of more than 9,000 acres of beach, dunes, and marshes 11 to save a significant portion of coastal wetlands with their unique vegetation and animal life." The refuge occupies the Virginia portion of Assateague Island and about 400 acres in Marylando More than 275 kinds of birdli£e have been identified, which reflects the variety of habitat at Chincoteague Refuge. Wild ponies owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department were permitted to remain in the wildlife area and firemen were given permission to round them up £or the annual swim to Chincoteague for "Pony Pen- ningo 11 1 1. "Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, 11 Dept. of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (Washington, 1967); Turman, The Eastern Shore of Virginia, 247-248. ######## ##### ### # 100 CHAPTER XII I Assateague Island National Seashore Assateague Island National Seashore was authorized on September 21, 1965. The Department of the Interior administers the area under a combined management plan designed to make the island available for the recreational enjoyment of both present and future generations and to protect the scenic, scientific, and historical values. !Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge will con 1 tinue to serve the purposes for which it was established. 1. 11Assateague Island National Seashore", Dept. of the Interior Natl. Park Service (Washington, 1967). ######## ##### ### ## # 101 C\l 0 r-1 e tt e I, <:io. OF NO. OF ~ ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED ~ WHERE FRCJ.f - WHERE BOUND ~ ~SAVED ~LOST June 30 1875 1 Assawaman Inlet (Sc) Geo. F. Wri9ht Onancock, Va x Messongo, Va. New York City x Jan. 24, 1877 Ship Shoal (Sc) H. Prescott , Portland, Me. 101 Cheeapeake Bay Portland, Me. oysters Jan. 27, 1877 Chincoteague (Sc) Geo. L. Treadwell Portsmouth, N.H. 113 Norfolk, Va. New York City corn Shoals a ro.on s Nov. 25, 1877 7 1/2 miles (Br) Ossipee N-ew York City 365 Denia, Spain New York City & from sta. raisins Jan. 4, 1878 1 1/4 mile5 s.w. (Sc) Osborn Curtis Perth Amboy 48 AssawaIQan, Va. New York City pinewoad 4 of sta. ru1t March 7, 1878 3/4 miles s. of (St) North Point Kingston, Jamaica 455 Kingston Philadelphia & 20 Point Bluff logwood Nov. 24, 1879 3/4 miles S. of (Sc)~ Chincoteague 8 Chincoteague Indian River, Del. x Fishing Paint Dec. 25, 1879 1/4 ruiles S. o:f {Sc) Ellie Bodine Tuckerton, N.J. 67 York River, va. New York City wood sta. Feb. I, 1880 New Inlet Bar (SL) J. F. KnaEE Smith's Landing, N.J. 16 Philadelphia Chincoteague x 3 Harcb 11, 1880 Williams Shoal (Sc) Osborn Curtis Squan, N.J. 48 Chincoteague New York City wood April 13, 1880 Williams Shoal (Sc) Charles H. Malleson Perth Amboy 48 Philadelphia Norfolk Oe-c. 19, 1880 Fox Shoal (Sc) Madara Frances Chincoteague 24 Philadelphia Chincoteague merchandise 1 Jan. 28, 1881 Turner s Shoal (Sc)~ Rockland, Me. 70 Norfolk New York City corn 4 103 ,ii_, ··~. ~ NO. OF NO. OF ~SAVED LIVES LOST ~ ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED ~ WHERE FROM WHERE BOUND ~ March 10, 1881 Ship Shoal (Sc) William Allen Perth Amboy 316 Norfolk Hoboken coal Boston coal Maren 28 ~ 1881 Turner's Shoal (Sc) Mabel Thomas New Haven 335 Baltimore Oct. 30-, 1881 A.ssawaman, Beach (Sc) Katie Coll ins Phi lade'l phia 286 Jacksonville, Fla. Perth Amboy lumber Jan. 31, 1882 Sheep Pen Hills (Sc) Dollr Varden Somer' s Point 11 New Inlet, Va. Great E<,Jg Harbor oysters Chincoteague oysters Feb.. 21 1 1 BB2 Fox Shoal {Sc)~ Chincoteague 13 Hog Island Millville luniber March 11, 1882 Hummock Beach (Sc)~ Millville, N.J. 82 Pocomoke City New York sugar 10 M&rch 7, 1883 Turner's Shoa.l (bark)~ Portland, Me. 620 Cardenas, Cuba City April 30, 1883 Chincoteague Bar {SL) Edith Fowle Chincoteague 23 James RivP.r Chincot~a.gue oysters 4 Chincoteagu~ x Au.gu&t 28 1 1883 2 3/4 mil es E/SE sailboat x x Winter Quarter or sta. Shoal Va. Nov. 6, 1883 2 miles S. W. of scow Chincoteague a H09 Island, Va. ChincoteaQ-ue x sta. New York City wood Dec. 23, 1883 South Shoal near (Sc) Lillie A. Warford Perth Amboy 171 Nan-semond River Chincoteague Bar Chincoteague x 4 De:c. 28, 1883 Eastern Beach (Sc)~ Onanock 16 New Inlet, Va. April 10, 1884 Ship Shoals (St) Ocean Star Sorners Point, N.J. 13 Somers Point Chincote~w? x 104 a ~. e e e e.. *. :.U~i'.iii>t<..4;•f •.;,, w-,. ,~ e '1 ~F NO. OF WHERE REGISTERED WHERE FROM WHERE BOUND ~ ~ NAME OF VESSEL ~ ~ LIVES SAVED LlvESiosT . - June 17, 1884 Chincoteague (Sc) James B. Johnson Somers Point, N.J. 148 Mattapony River, Va. Philadelphia railroad 10 Beach ties Nov. '6, 1884 1/2 miles SE {SL) John M. R2SJ:ers Chincoteague 19 x x x o'L sta. Dec. 15 1 1584 1/2 m.iles SW (Sc) Peter J. Hart Chincoteague 40 New York City Franklin City, Va. coal 4 of sta. April 12, 1885 Chincoteague Bar (Sc)~ Brid;Jeton 68 Washington, D. C. Millvale, N.J. !Wilber 4 Dec. 21, 1885 3/4 miles SB of (SL) Hariet E. Lownde9 Chincoteague 13 Hog Island Tom's Cove, Va. oysters sta. Jan. 9, 1886 1 111ile SB 0£ 9ta. {Sc) Lillie Ernestine Patchogue, N.Y. 54 New York City York River x 1 March 15, 1886 Toa.' s Inlet Bar (SL) John M. Price Chincoteague 26 Hog Island Tom s Cove oysters 4 April 2, 1886 Chincoteague Inlet (SL) Julia A. Roe Baltimore 32 Deal 1 s Island, M:d. Maurice River, N.J. oysters 4 Bar June 2, 1886 New Inlet Bar (SL) J. C. Wood Chincoteague 5 Assateague, Island Chincoteague oysters 4 Aug,. 5, 1886 Williams Shoal (Sc) Edwin J. Palmer Providence, R. I. 197 Providence, R. I. Philadelphia scrap iron Chincoteague oyster.s Dec. 12, 1886 2 miles SSE of (SL) Lizzie Ja'1e Chincoteague 11 Cobbs Island sta. Atlantic City oysters April 7, 1887 Chincoteague Bar (Sc) George L. Garlick Somers Point 22 Chincoteague Chincoteague clams April 26, 1887 1 mile SE of sta. {SL) John H. Sava~e Chincoteague x Fiske Cove 105 NO. OF NO. OF' -~ ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED ~ WHERE FROM WHERE BOUND £!!E2£ L'IVESSAVED ~LOST .\pril 28, 1887 1 raile SE of (SL) William C. Pruitt Chincoteague 9 Hog Island Chincoteague oysters sta. April 23, 1888 Williams Shoal (Sc) James R"othwell Boston 498 Boston Philadelphia_ x Dec. 11. 1888 1/2 mile E. of (Sc) Morning Light Chincoteague x Chincoteague Fi5ke Cove oysters sta. \ug. 25, 1889 1 mile W. of (SL) Prohibition Chincoteagu~ 6 adrift x furniture x sta. >ec. 30, 1889 3 1/2 wiles NE/E (Sc) Annie E. Pierce Wilmington, Del. 93 Newborn, N.C. New York City lumber of Wallo2s Beach '\pril 7, 1890 1 mile N/NW of (SL) Josie Smith Chincoteague 12 Hog Island Chincoteague x .sta. shingle hlly 18, 1890 Fox Shoal {SL) Lizzie Jane Chincoteague 11 Norfolk Chincoteague & laths iept .. 27' 1890 2 3/4 miles SW {Sc) John R. Walters Chincoteague 9 Hog !~land Chincoteague oysters of sta. kt.. 10, 1891 2 1/2 E/N of sta. (St) Oe•P" tch u. s. Goverment 730 Washington, D. C. New York City x 79 Dec..- 29, 1891 2 miles N. of Boat belonging to Winter 4 Sta 0 arter Li ht Shi ~ril 25, 1892 Williams Shoal (Sc) William E. Hewlett Bridgeton, N.J. 23 Hog Island Cape May oysters 4 July is,. 18?2 Fox Shoal (Sc) L. B. Chandler Chincoteague 39 Chincoteague New York City wood i.ug. 6, 1892 Fox Shoal (Sc) Palestine Chincoteague 31 Chincoteague New York City wood 106 •• e ~ - e e e e -- -" NO. OF ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE RBGISTERED WHERE FROM Q&!§. ~ ~ WHERE BOUND ~ ~SJ\VED LIVES LOST Sept. 30 1 1892 2 1/2 miles SSE (St)~ Chincoteague 53 Delaware Capes Chincoteague fish of sta. Dec. 25,. 1892 Turner's Shoal (Sc) Willie l... Newton Bangor, Me. 286 Newport News, Va. Allyns Point, Conn. coal April 12, .1892 3 miles W/SW (Sc) Anna Homan Crisfielp, Md. 16 Chincoteague Norfolk Nov. 15, 1893 1 I'lil e S/SE of (Sc) J, H. Elliott Philadelphia 71 Hampden, Va. New York City wood 4 sta. Nov. 15, 1893 1 mile S/SE. of (Sc) J. H. Elliott Philadelphia 7l Hall!pton, Va. New York City wood sta. March 19, 1894 Wil 1 iams Shoal {Sc) Emma_ Robinson Chincoteague 64 James River Baltimore 4 April 6, 1894 2 1/2 miles S/SE (SL) Helen F. Leaman Cape May 14 Wachapreague, Va. Cape May oysters of station Boston lumber Sept. 1 1 1894 7 miles NE of (Sc) Sarah C. Smith Philadelphia 297 Georgetown, S. C. Jan. 18, 1895 1 mile S of (Sc) So:ehia Godfre~ Bridgeton 257 New York City Suffolk salt station Feb. 8~ 1895 2 miles SE of {Sc)~ Tuckerton 22 Wachapreague, Va. New York City oysters station Feb. a, 1895 2 1/2 miles s. (Sc) Water Lily New York City 37 Norfolk New York City 4 of station Sa t March 2, 1895 3 miles NE of (St)~ Sunderland, U.K. 1,594 Hamburg, Ger. Bal ti.more & 20 station cement May 3, 1896 3 miles S. of (Sc) John s. Beacham. Richmond 234 Richmond New York City pig iron station 107 ,i ...... ;:.~ ''•"!4# NO. OF NO. OF NAME OF_VESSEL WHERE BOUND LIVES SAVES LIVEStoST ~ ~ WHERE REGISTERED ~ WHERE FRa-1: ~ Sept. l, 1896 2 1/2 miles E/SE (Sc) L. A. Rose Somers Point 145 Claremont, Va. New York City wood of station Oct. 2) 1896 2 1/2 miles S/SE (Sc) Maggie E. Davis Chincoteague 44 New York City Chincoteague coal of station Oct. 2, 1896 l 1/2 miles S/SB fishing boat Chincoteague capzized of station Oct. 25, 1897 1 mile south of (Sc) L. A. Rose Somers Point 145 James River New York City wood station Nov. 17, 1897 5 miles south of {Sc) Theresa Wolf Somers Point 307 Bermuda Hundred Philadelphia wood of station Nov. 23, 1897 l 1/2 miles south (Sc) M. B. Millen New York City 336 James River New York City wood of station Dec. 24, 1897 2 miles south (Sc) Li~zie s. _-!_~_s Philad~lphia 182 Newbern New York City lumber --- of station Dec. 24, 1897 1 1/2 miles south (Sc) §_amuel C. Holm.es Wilmington, Del. 79 York River New York City wood of station Dec. 24, 1897 l 1/2 miles south (Sc) Marl: J. Robbins Port Norris, N.J. 24 James River Port Norris oysters of station railroad Dec. 25, 1897 5 miles south of (Sc) Vir9inia Rulon New York City 280 Bermuda Hundred Elizabeth, N.J. ties - station Jan. 9, 1898 5 miles south of (Br)~ New Bedford, Mass. 264 Bermuda Hundred Philadelphia rail road ~ ties March 4, 1898 1 1/2 miles .south (Sc) Se?, Queen Tuckerton 13 dragged anchor oysters of station t,, stranded May a, 1898 4 miles west of {Sc) Mary S. Ewing Wilmington, Del. 59 James River Egg Harbor oysters 4 Wallops Island sta. __ -~ 108 e e ,ii e •' - e --1 *I1~i!"lifL"'' e C• NO. OF ~ LrVB'$'SAVED LIVES LOST ~ ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED ~ WHERE FRO< WHERE BOUND ~ Dec. 7, 1898 l 1/2 miles S. (Sc)~ Belfast, Me. 116 Charleston, D.C. New York City lumber of station Jan. Philadelphia 17, 1899 2 miles S. of (Sc) ::lY~~ M 1 t!alJ, Perth Amboy 87 Chincoteague coal 4 station March 7, 1899 l 1/4 miles S/SE (SL)~ Somers Point l3 James River Chincoteague oysters of station March 7, 1899 3 mile!i NE of (SL)~ Bridgeton 16 Herefort Inlet, N.J. Hog Island x sta. March 8, 1899 1 1/2 idles S. (Sc) Marx Gaillard Somers Point 45 James River Little Egg Harbor oysters 4 o:f sta. March l 7, 1899 Fox Shoal (Sc) ~SlSJ_i~ D~~ Chincoteague 44 Chincoteague James River x 4 Sept. 5, 1899 3 miles W/SW (SL) Maude S, Bridgeton 7 Sea Isle City Chincoteague x o;{ station Oct. 31, 1899 2 ru.iles s. of (Sc) Anna L. Ponder Wilmington, Del. 17 Atlantic City Norfolk x station Dec. 5, 1899 5 ?tiles W. of (Sc) M.aggie D~vi~ Chincoteague 44 Chincoteague James River x 4 ~ Dec. 19, 1899 l 1/2 ro.iles S/SE (Sc) Helen M. Chincoteague 30 Franklin City, Va. Philadelphia oysters of station Dec. 24, 1899 3 m.iles W/SW of (Sc) Fred Jackson New York City 292 New York City Nor.folk brick station Dec. 26, 1899 2 Ill miles s. (Sc)~ Norfolk 141 Norfolk New York City lumber o.f station March 23, 1900 4 railes w. of (SL)~ Chincoteague 9 Franklin City Wachapreague x station 109 .ii ~ - NO. OF ~ WHERE BOUND ~SAVED LIVES LOST ~ ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED ~ WHERE FRao'I ~ April S, 1900 2 1/2 miles S/SW (Sc) D. P. Mulford Norfolk 30 Jam.es River Maurice River, oysters of station N. J Dec. 9, 1900 4 miles NE of (SL) Sagi tta New York City 27 New York City North Carolina x station Dec. 18, 1900 3 miles W. of (Sc) Joseph Allen Nor.folk 27 Chincoteague Norfolk oysters 4 station Dec. 23, 1900 4 miles S. o:f (Sc) Howell Leeds Philadelphia 414 Philadelphia Wilmington, N.C. fertilizer station Jan. 4, 1901 Turner' s Shoal (Sc) James Young Thomaston, Me. 261 Bermuda Hundred New York City 11.lillber Jan 13, 1901 Turner's Shoal (Sc) Annie B. Mitchell New London 463 Norfolk New Haven pig iron March 11, 1901 1 mile W. of (Sc) Mary Standish Boston 272 New York City City Point x station Maurice River April 4 1 1901 3 mile~ s. of (Sc} Early Bird Baltimore 58 James River oysters 4 station July 26, 1901 2 miles S/SB (Sc) Monhe9an New York City 23 New York City Annapolis x of station Sept. 16, 1901 1 1/2 miles S/SE (Sc) Jose2h J. Pharo New York City 261 New York City Bermuda Hundred x o:f station Feb. 25, 1902 2/ 1/2 miles SE (BK) Alice & Isabella Sables d 1 Orlonne 647 Sables d' Orlonne Philadelphia )( 15 of station Feb. 27 1 1902 Z l/4 miles s. (Sc) Emma M. Robinson Chincoteague 63 James Riv-er New York City wood of station March 4, 1902 5 1/2 mile$ of (Sc) Daniel Brown New York City 204 Norfolk New York City lumber station 110 e ;; - e e -- e NO. OF NO. OF NAME OF VESSEL WHERE RBGISTERED WHERE FRC>I ~ ~ ~ WHERE BOUND ~ L-IV'ES" SAVBD Li'V'E.S"LOST April 21, 1902 2 1/2 miles S. (Sc) Nettie R .. Willing Newport News 55 James River Maurice River oysters 4 0£ station June 7, 1902 2 ndles S. of (Sc}~ Norfolk 41 North Carolina New York City x station Sept. 13, 1902 2 112 miles s. {Sc) Lucie Wheatler New York City 189 Suffolk, Va. New York City lumber of station Sept. 26, 1902 Ship Shoal (Sc)~ Gloucester, Mass. 67 Fishing trip 11 Oct. 23, 1902 3 miles s.w. (Sc) c. R. Bennett Chincoteague 32 Chincoteague Norfolk oyster.5 of station Nov. 7, 1902 2 1/2 miles N. (Sc)~ Camden, N .. J. 31 Battery Park, Va. Maurice River x of station Nov. 27, 1902 2 111.iles E/NE of (Sc) Maggie Davis Chincoteague 44 Chincoteague Philadelphia oysters 4 Wallops Is. station Nov. ZS, 1902 1 7 /8 miles S/SE (Sc) Claudia v, Chincoteague 22 Chincoteague Nor.folk oysters of station Nov. 28:t 1902 1 3/4 m.iles S/SE (SL) Pittsburgh Somers Point 15 Atlantic City Rappahannock x 2 of .station River Nov. 28, 1902 l 3/4 miles S/SE (Sc) Maggie Davis Chincoteague 44 Chincoteague Philadelphia oysters 4 of station Nov. 29, 1902 2 1/2 miles W/SW (Sc) R. B. Leeds Chincoteague 34 Chincoteague Norfolk oysters o:t station Suffolk Dec. 5, 1902 1 mile s. o:f {Sc) Virsiinia Rulon Tuckerton 28 New York City lumber station Dec. 25, 1902 Bogue Island, N.C. 1/2 mile S. o:f (Sc) John Russell Bridgeton 156 New York City lumber station 111 ~. ~ ...... l: ...... /C, NO. OF NO. OF LTV~B SAVED LIVES LOST ~ ~ NA.ME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED ~ WHERE FROI WHERE BOUND ~ Feb. 23, 1903 1 1/2 miles SE (SL)~ Cold Spring, N. Y. 10 Elizabeth City, N.C. Oyster Bay of station March 23, 1903 2 miles s. of (Sc) William & James Seaford, Del. Bl North River, Va. Millville lumber 4 ~ April 24, 1903 4 1/2 miles SE {Sc) Lewis !S;:i Cottrin9han Philadelph,ia 524 Jal!les River Boston lumber of station Oct. 11, 1903 2 miles S. of (Sc) E. A. Cranmer Chincoteague 23 Cobbs Island Chincoteague oysters station Oct. 11, 1903 2 miles s. of (SL)~ Somers Point 19 Fishing Trip fish station Oct. 18, 1903 l 3/4 miles S/E (SL)Athene New York City 26 Mrytle Inlet Folly Creek, Va. oysters of station Nov. 6, 1903 1 3/4 11.ile:s s. (Sc) Benjamin w. Latham Stoningtai. 72 Fishing Trip fish 13 of station Dec. 22, 1903 2 11.iles NE/W (Sc)~ Gape Charles 18 Metomkin Chincoteague x of station Jan. 3, 1904 1 1/2 11.iles SE (Sc) s. J. Delan Chincoteag'...l.e 36 Chincoteague Nor:folk oysters of' ation March 22, 1904 1 1/4 miles SW (Sc) Mattie W. Porter Tuckerton, N.J. 28 Egg Harbor Hog Island o:f s ation Claremont, Va. April 10, 1904 1 l/4 miles SE (Sc) William D. Hilton Providence 324 Pawtawket lumber 0£ station Sept. 15, 1904 l mile SE o:f sta. (Sc) Maggie Davis Chincoteague 44 Philadelphia Chincoteague coal 14 Sept. 15, 1904 l mile SE of sta. (Sc)~ Camden 319 Washington, D. C. Penns Grove x 112 , ' e ."'- e e ft -- e //. NO. OF NO. OF ~ ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED ~ '.'IHERE FRCM WHERE BOUND ~ i:1Vii$"SAVED ~LOST Nov. 171 1904 5 miles SB (Sc} J 1 Howell Leeds Philadelphia 414 Long Cove, Me. Philadelphia paving stone 7 of station Jan. 25, 1905 1 1/2 miles SE (Sc) White Wing Chincoteague 15 Chincoteague Cobbs Island x of station ___ ,,_ ------· ------~------·----- - Jan. 30 1 1905 2 miles s. of (Sc) Onley Chincoteague 26 North Carolina .Johnson's Bay, oysters station Md. April 8 1 1905 4 miles SE (Sc) "!....J'.._!{<>J"lett Philadelphia 46 James River Philadelphia oysters ··---- May 31, 1905 2 1/2 miles s. (Sc) Addie Jordan Saco, Me. 376 Norfolk Bridgeport lumber of st.&tion Oct. 11, 1905 1 3/4 miles SR s (Sc) Ada R. Terry New York City 69 New York City Assatea-gue 14 - -- 0£ station Nov. 21 1905 6 1/2 miles SS (Sc) Thao.as L. James New York City 396 Norfolk New York City wood of station March 24, 1906 5 mile9 SW of {Sc}~ Baltimore 589 New York City Norfolk x station March 24, 1 906 Williams Shoal (Str) Margaret Baltimore 203 New York City . Nor.folk x 11 May 7' 1906 1/2 miles E/NE (Sc)~ B-altimore 61 Hampton Maurice River oysters 4 of station Dec. 13, 1906 1/2 miles SE {SL) Three Sisters Chincoteague Dragged anchor lumber of station & stranded Feb. 15, 1907 l 1/4 miles SE (SL) Sally Nor.folk 29 North Carolina Chincoteague oysters of station April .24_, 1907 l 1/2 tRiles SE (SL) Lizzie M. Jones Chincoteague 21 Hampton Atlantic City oysters of station 113 ,i - _, ~ " < ifll!!!Bfll:l!ll!!!\l ;~~·~,,.- .. NO. OF NO. OF NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REG! S TERED ~ WHERE FRCt< ~ ~ WHERE BOUND ~ ~SAVED LiVESTOST April 24, 1907 1 1/2 m.iles SE (SL) Edith Louise Chincoteague o:{ station ------· ----·· -· ------ Aug. 2, 1907 2 miles S, 1/2 (Sc) ~sl_y_ille___tl. P~ New York City 311 Virginia New York City lumber miles W. 0£ station Sept. 12, 1907 1 l/4 miles s. (Sc) Annie May Cape Charles 29 Machipongo New York City wood of .station New York City Oct. 3, 1907 l mile N. of yacht ~ New York City 64 Tarpon Springs general station Oct .. 24, 1907 2 1/4 miles SE gas launch. Annie Godfrei Somers Point 21 Fishing Trip fish Nov. 7, 1907 l miles S/SE (Str)~ Tappahannock 141 In harbor coal 28 of station Jan. 7, 1908 1/2 miles SE (Sc} D. J. Whealton Chincoteague 48 Chincoteague As!;ateague wrecking of station outfit Jan. 7, 1908 3/8 miles SE launch (no nam-e) Nor£olk x Norfolk Chincoteague x x sta!iw____ ---- -~------~--·------Jan. 8, 19'08 1/2 mile SE 0£ sta. (Sc) Robt. J. Paulson Cape Charles 29 not on voyage Not on voyage x Jan. a, 1908 l 1/2 miles SW (Sc) Millville Philadelphia 365 Norfolk New Haven x ot station Feb. 3, 1908 1 1/2 miles s. of ( Str) ~sher J~udson Philadelphia 136 New York City x statiol) Sept. 30, 1908 2 miles E./NE (Sch)~ Chincoteague 77 Chincoteague York River oysters . __ot __ ~~-it?R~-_g~~gJ1_ Dec. 8, 1908 2 miles SW of (Str)~ Marquette 1, 272 Baltimore Boston coal 19 station 114 e .... e e ~ - e -- e I-, ~ PLACE NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED NO* OF NO. OF ~ ~ro.t W'HERR BOUND ~ LIVES SAVED LIVES LOST ------, Feb. 24, 1909 3 1/2 miles S/SW (Sc) Helen Benedict New Haven 770 of station New port News, Va. Portland, Me. coal 8 --·------March 16, 1909 1 5/8 N. of sta. ---- (Sc) Charle~ c. Weaver West Point, Va. 27 Hampton Sheepshead Bay oysters ------April 2, 1909 2 1/2 miles SE ( ga~ Sc) Marv ~. Hartv Gloucester of station 122 Glouscester Assateague x 19 ---- ~------~--- Dec. 22, 1909 1 3/8 miles SE (Sc)~ Philadelphia of station 51 Virginia Cape May lumber ·------April 10, 1910 3 miles NE {gas launch) ~zel Moore Chincoteague 14 ______E_f __station Somers Point Assatea9ue x Dec. 15, 1910 1 mile SE o-f (gas str) Rae Philadelphia. sta. 29 Freeport Florida x ------April 27, 1911 3 miles E of !ita (gas str) ~ Boston 10 Chincoteague fishing grounds x Jan. 5, 1912 2 miles SW o'f sta. (gas str) Corsair 14 New York City Florida x Jan. S, 1912 1 1/2 miles SE of {Sc) Alberta Chincoteague 77 Virginia '' ---·-~e__. ___ New York City wood - Jan. a, 1912 3 miles SW of sta. (Sc) Columbia , Norfolk _____ SS Virginia Atlantic City lumber Feb. 9, 1912 7 1:11iles SE of sta. (Sc) Victor c. Records Seafood 243 Charleston ------·---- - New York City lumber Feb. 2-', 1912 1 mile S/SE of (gas str.) ~Blanche Norfolk 23 Chincoteague __u~t_igri.~- ~----'-" Norfolk oysters 2 - --- - March 21, 1912 2 miles S/SW of (gas str.) Onley Somers Point station 26 Atlantic City Hampton x 11S ~ .- NO. OF NO. OF ~ ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED WJ!ERE FRCJ.l: ~ WJIBRE BOUND ~ Li'VES" SA VFn ~LOST ---·------· ------April 7, 1912 1 5/8 miles SE (gas str) ~ Atlantic -City of station Chincoteague Atlantic City x May 10, 1912 1 1/2 miles S/SW (SL) John Wesley Chincoteague 15 Beck Creek, N.J. Tucker Bay, Md. oysters o{ _station ---- Aug. 3, 1912 3 miles E of sta. (Sc) Carri_e s. Morse Crisfield 56 York River New York City wood ------Nov. S, 1912 l 3/4 ndles SE (Sc) Joseph Allen Chincoteague 39 York River New York City wood 4 __ 2!., __ ~!_at ion ----- Jan. 14, 1913 2 1/2 miles S/SW (Sc) Marg~}:"et M. Ford Boston 365 New York City of station Jacksonville, Fla. cement April 7, 1913 3/8 miles SW of (SL)~ Somers Point 25 Hog Island Atlantic City oysters station --- Feb. a, 1914 6 ra.iles SE of {Sc) Edwina Clarle!!iton, s.c. 459 James River sta, New York City lumber -~------·--- May S, 1914 8 miles SW of (Sc) Ruth Decker Elizabeth,City, N.C.l 122 Norfolk ta Chincoteague coal 4 . - -- July 9, 1915 Williams Shoal (Sc) Lizzie Godfrey x 73 x x oysters shells 4 -~~ ~-· ~- - ## ## ## ## ## ## 116 e ,. e e j f z 0 H H ~ (/) ~ H ::> .::x: ~ I x wI H ~ l"- e 0 H r-i ffi ...l r-i Cl. Hw ~ ~ H 15 0:: wffi 0:: (.? " --· e ',- NO. OF NO. OF NAME _OF VESSEL LTVES SAVED LIVES LOST ~ ~ WHERE REGISTERED ~ ~RE FRO! WHERB BOUND ~ -----·--- -·~-- Nov. 28, 1875 Abreast Winter Yacht~ Philadelphia 88 Jamaica Philadelphia Bananas Quarter Shoal & Rum 20, 1876 Jan. 2 miles s. o:f (Sc) Maria & El izab~th Philadelphia 203 Nansemond New York City wood :hinc~~~':~9~ ~-ho_?l__ Dec. 1, 1876 Green Run Beach ( $:) Ocean Bell Rockland, Me. 142 Georgetown, o.c. Bridgeport, Conn. co21l -·- -- -- ~ ~- - March 10, 1877 5 miles s. of (Sc) Andrew Nebinger Philadelphia 294 Dobey Island, Ga. Philadelphia lumber sta. 3 May 23, 1877 2 1/2 miles s., (Sc) Mar>.'. E. Curtin Tuckerton, N.J. 26 Hog Island, Va. Little Egg Harbor salt SW of station sweet po ta toes 4 Sept. a, 1877 9 miles N. of. (Sc) Sidne_y_MQ_n_s~l Patchogue •. N. Y. 48 Wa tchapreague, Va. New York City tan bark Jan. 3, 1878 3 3/4 miles N. (Sc) Francis French New York City 119 Fredericksburg, Va. New York City of sta. & oak pinewood 4 Jan. 4, 1879 1/4 mile N. of (Sc) Rebecca Kni9ht New York City 108 James River, Va. New York City sta. July 16, 1879 2 1/4 milQs N. (Sc)~ New York City 223 New York City Bermuda general of sta. ------ Au9. 22, 1879 S miles N. of (Sc) Henrz:: Adelbert Gardiner, Me. 272 Bath, Me. Washington, D. C. ic• Sta. ------·--- --·------ Dec. 31, 1880 3 1/2 miles N. (Sc) Mari D. Ireland Philadelphia 265 Richmond New York City coal of sta. Philadelphia surgar 13 March 3, 1881 3 1/2 miles N. (Bk) Syringa Scarborough, Great Britain 379 Pernambuco of sta. Jan. 24, 1882 l 1/2 miles N. (Sc) Chancellor New Haven" Conn. 93 Carta.92na., Sp. ___?! ~---~------ 118 ,.,... . *. NO. OF NO. OF LIVES LO$T WrIBRE BOUND ~ LIVES SAVED ~ ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED TONNAGE HHERE FRCM ------Wilmington, N.c. steel rails Jan. 24, 1882 2 1/2 miles N. (Sc) Abbie & Eva Camden, N.J. 322 Philadelphia of station ------··~- Chincoteague oysters Ma.y s, 1882 Wallop' s Beach (Sc) Maggie Bell Chincoteague Hog Island ------New York Lignun vitae Jan. 8, 1883 S 1/2 miles N .. (Sc) Wyoming Boston 197 Azna, Santo Domingo of station ~ sugar Harlem, N. Y. coal Jan. 12,. 1883 3 1/2 miles N .. (Sc) Elizabeth M. Buehler Phila'.delphia 491 Baltimore of station New York City salt Jan. 12, 1883 4 1/2 miles N. {Sc) Julia Grace Hali.fax 149 Bon-Air,_ West Indies of station New York City general 29 Jan. 20, 1883 3 miles N. of ( str) Alpin Bilbao, Sp. 833 Inagua, Bahamas station ?';or folk x Dec. 25, 1887 400 yards SE (Sc) Jesse Murdock Wareham, Mass, 360 Wareham -~~-----=~~------=:_::::::_:____::~------;;:~-~------of st ation Norfolk oysters Feb. 16, 1889 1 1/2 :miles NE (Sc) Taz:lor & Mathis Philadelphia 28 Ship Shoals Inlet of station New York City x 13 Nov. 11, 1892 Winter °'"1arter (Bk) Copse.field Londan, England 454 Glasgow, Scotland Beach capsized Oct. 5, 1896 1/2 mile S. of Fishing boat Green Run Inlet stati9~ Philadelphia salt 11 March 4, 1897 2 l/4 miles N/NE (Brig) Emma L. Shaw Windsor, N.S. 567 Turks Island of stati~I}----·~- Fernandina x May a, 1900 3 miles N/NE (Sc.) Luella Wood Rockland, Me. 556 Boston of s~t.i?I_! _ 119 e ,, .. e e e .,.,..,, e NO. OF NO. OF .. ~· LOST CARGO ~SAVED Li\i'E.S NAME OF VESSEL WHERE BOUND ~ ~ WHERE REGI STEREO ~ ~ March 12, 1902 2 miles N/NW (Scow) l1_atty Powell North Beach, Md. x Green Run Inlet North Beach fertilizer of station 12 June 3, 1902 1 mile N/NE o:f (Sc) Elsie M. Harri~ New Ycrk City so New York City Virginia fish station June 10, 1903 1 3/4 miles NINE (Sc)~ Tampa 341 NPw York City Bal ti.more guano of station Dec. 20, 1905 1 1/2 mile5 SB (gas lch,) ~ Wildwood x Wildwood Florida x of station -·~------~ ----- Oct. 22, 1906 3 miles west (gas lch.) ~ Pleasure Trip o:f station 4 Jan. 12, 1911 4 tniles SE o:f (9as str) ~ New York City 35 New York City Norfolk x station ------·------May l, 1912 2 1/2 miles N/NE (gas str.) ~lizabeth s. Somers Point 20 Hampton Atlantic City oysters o:f station ## ## #N It# II## It# 120 -·. 5H f-1 ~ (./) "''-, ~ H :> < r-1 H ~ -·~ Q H ffi .....) R: NO. OF NO. OF NAME OF VESSEL WHERE: BOUND ~SAVED i:"fVESLOST ~ ~ WHERE REGISTERED ~ WHERE FRGI ~ March 1, 1882 1 mile E/NE (Sc) Hannah M. Lollis Wilmington, Del. 299 Savannah New York City lumber Jan. 3, 1883 1 mile S. of sta (Sc) Samuel Ober Provincetown, Mass. 68 Baltimore Proviencetown, pig iron 4 Mass. Jan... 9, 1883 1 mile s. of sta. Mud Scow No. 1 x x Philadelphia Norfolk x x April 16, 1886 2 miles S/SW of (Sc) Betha Watts Lunenburg, N. s. 146 Cienfuegos Philadelphia molasses station Oct. 15, 1889 2 1/2 miles NW sloop x x Broke from moorings x x of station Nov. 18, 1890 2 1/2 miles s. (Sc) Lehman Blew Camden 275 Virginia Philadelphia wood 6 --- o'f station April 29, 1891 3 miles S/SW (Sc) William M. Bird Somers Point 808 Kennebec River Philadelphia ice ----- 22 Jan. 12, 1892 4 miles S/SW {str)~ West Hartlepool, England 1,668 West Hartlepool Delaware x of station Breakwater F-eb. 15, 1893 2 miles N. of {Sc) R, F. Pettigrew Portland, Me. 931 Boston station Nor.folk x Jan. 22, 1895 1 mile W. of sta. (Sailboat) Gertie Boxiron x x x x March 25, 1895 l roile W/NW of (Sailboat) ~ Chincoteague x Chincoteague station Pope's Island x Nov. 26, 1902 4 miles SW of {SL)~ Chincoteague Chincoteague station Ragged Point x Oct. 11, 1903 2 miles N. of sta. (SL) Minnie Franci£ Girdletree, Md. x parted cable and !':tTanrli<>fl x 122 ,ii ''? F'l.ACE NO. OF NO. OF ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED ~ WHERE FROM WHERE BOUND ~ ~SAVED Lr\iES LOST Jan. 9, 1906 5 miles s. (Sc) Robert McClint6Ck Baltimore of s1:a_ 154 Baltimore x steel rails Sept. 25, 1906 4 1/2 rail es S/SW (Sc) Marion Grimes New York City fish of station 72 Fishing Trip 15 #1111 ### -# ### ### Jl/11111 123 e e ... e z 0 H E-t ~ (/) "<:!' (\) ~ ~ LIVES LDST ~ ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE RE.GISTERED LIVES SAVED ~ WHERE FROM WHERE BOUND ~ March 29, 1886 3 1/2 miles S/SW (St) Tqnawanda Philadelphia Philadelphia barrels 19 of station 1,504- London Sept. 2, 1886 4 miles NR of (Sc) ~r~M_iller Belfast, Me. New York City lumber station 421 Union Island, Ge. Jan. 4, 1887 3 3/4 miles 5/SW (Sc) Helena New London Norfolk coal 0£ station 96 New York City Sept. 10, 1889 1/2 miles NE (Sc) ~kElla Benton Somers Point Norfolk x of station 137 New York City Sept. 21, 1889 1 1/2 miles NW (SL) Curlew Berlin, Md. x Fishing Trip x of s~ati20 x Aug .. 6, 1890 l/2 111.ile s. 0£ (Sc) !t,____!!~l_lace Ward New Haven Norfolk x 11 st_at;i.9ri_ _ April l, 1891 3 1/4 railes S/SW (Bark} A Aug. 11, 1891 l 1/4 miles SW (Sc) §_g!_h & Ishmael Richmond 61 Washington, D. C. coal of sta:ti9n Philadelphia June 18, 1894 Davis Shoal {SL) Viola. Chincoteague 5 Chincoteague St. Martins River, oysters -----~" Md. July 21, 1894 2 1/.2 miles W/NW (Sc) Tuckahoe Bishopville, Md. St. Martins River shells o:f station x George's Island Landing - - ~-- July 10, 1895 1 ntile S/SE of ( str) !:::2ll__ 13 Norfolk 167 New York City x §.!?tig!l_ Norfolk July 21, 1895 l 1/4 111.iles SW (SL) Lillie Chincoteague 11 of static Pleasure Trip Feb. 15, 1896 1 1/2 miles W/NW (Catboat) Shoo Fly Bassetts Creek, Md. of__stJ!t.i9Q _ x Dragged Anchor 125 ;f _ .;; 'fli!nl!l!!l!'llj'!jjlfli ·~1*,;Ui ';·~~·,' , ·~, ~ .,_ NO. OF NO. OF NAMB OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTER ED WHERE FROM " ~ ~ ~ ~LOST WHERE BOUND ~ LIVES SAVED Feb. 26, 1896 1 3/4 miles SW (SL) Vigilant Chincoteague x Hog Island o:f station Ocean City x July 23, 1897 1 3/8 miles SW/S (SL) Sallie Mary Chincoteague 6 Dragged anc!tor o:f stat ion & stranded x May 21, 1898 l 1/8 miles S. of {Sc) T. Harris Kirk New York City 264 Chickahondny station Philadelphia railroad ties May 16, 1899 1 mile SW Of (SL) Vi9ilant Chi~coteague x Chincoteague station North Beach x July 30, 1899 1 mile W/NW (Sc} Lelia Collins Franklin City, Va. x Franklin City Ocean City o:f station x Aug. 22, 1899 4 1/2 miles N/NE (Sc) Lem Meta Wilmington, Del. 38 Lewes, Del. of station Assa teague Beach lwnber Sept. 26, 1899 2 1/2 miles N. Shanty Boat Turvells Creek, Md. x North Beach of .9tation Turvells Creek x ------· - --~--~-·"· .. __ ----- ~------··-·--- 'Dec. 7, 1899 1 rlile NW of ~ta. Shanty Boat Ocean City x Ocean City North Beach x Dec. 20, 1900 l 1/2 N/NW o:f Shanty Boat Ocean City x Winter Quarter station Ocean City x x Jan 24, 1901 1 3/4 mil es N/NE (str)~ Cardiff, Wales 2, 823 Daker, Senegal of station Philadelphia x April 9, 1901 3 1/2 miles SW/S (Sharpie) ~ Conners Point, Md. x Gr..een Run of station Ocean City fish Oct. 19, 1901 4 miles NE of {Sharpie)~ Ch;incoteague x Chincoteao;iue x x Sept. 16, 1903 4 1/2 miles S/SW {Catboat) Nellie Jones t'urpin • s Pond, Md. x Fishing Trip o:f station x 126 4 e ~ ... - e e e e e NO. OF NO. OF ~ NAME OF VESSEL WHERE REGISTERED WHERE FROM ~ ~ WHERE BOUND ~ ~SAVED LlVES LOST Sept. 16, 1903 l 1/2 miles {Catboat) Bettie Dennis Ennis Creek, Md. x Fishing Trip SW/S of sta. x x Dec. 2, 1903 1 1/8 miles NE (SL)~ Gefle, Sweden 1,392 Hong Kong New York City matting 21 of station ------·----- March 12, 1904 3 1/2 miles NW (yacht)~ Ocean City x Ocean City piles of station - April 16, 1905 3 miles NW of \sharpie) Wm. McKinley Ocean City x capsized x station -- --·-- - April 16, 1905 2 miles N. of (sharpie) Charle~ Simpson Ocean City x Ocean City Winter Quarter x station .~ Feb. 22, 1906 3 miles S/SW (Sc) Illa B. Gibso2 Sea.ford, Del. 235 City Point New York City lumber of station April 21, 1906 l 1/2 miles NW (Sharpie) Anna Held Chincoteague x capsized of station Dec. a, 19-06 3 1/2 miles W. (gas launch) s. ! ... Kimball x x Chincoteague of station Jan .. 28, 1909 2 3/4 miles S .. (Sc) P. B. Wharton Chincoteague 79 Rappahannock Atlantic City lumber of station Sept .. 28, 1909 I 3/4 miles NW gas launch Wh.i.te' s Island, Md. Engine disabled of station Dec. 12, 1909 3 miles N. of {SL) Flyin:J Cloud Franklin City, Va. unmasted in gale station Dec. 22, 1909 l mile SW of (Catboat) Nadine Showell Smoke House Creek, Md. stranded _statio~-~~----- ·-- -· April 17, 1914 2 miles NE of (gas str) Pittsburgh Somers Point 23 Atlantic City James River station x 127 ' ••.., r-1 lf\ r-1 I ::::> ro >i N ca r-1 ca x !il H >i Cl @ ffi H ll.. ll.. e e tftb)l:x'tl'Jl'nn;';;;I ~-", e GROSS HOW NAME & REGISTEE_ CLASS· TONNAGE DESTROYED DATE POSITION 37o 24' N Hattie Dunn (A) schooner 435 bombed May 25 750 05 1 w 370 27 1 N Hauppauge {A) schooner 1,446 1/2 bombed May 25 75° 09' w 37o 30 1 N Edna {A) schooner 325 bombed May 25 ,74° 32' w 39° 20' N Winneconne (A) steamer 1,869 bombed June 2 73o 14 1 w 39° 20' N Isabel B. Wiley (A) schooner 776 bombed June 2 73° 13' w 39° 20' N Jacob M. Haskell (A) schooner 1,778 bombed June 2 73° 13 1 w 38° 58 1 N I Edward H. Cole (A) schooner 1,792 bombed June 2 73° 12 1 w 38° 58 1 N Texel (A) steamer 3,210 bombed June 2 73° 12 1 w 38° 51' N Carolina (A) steamer S,093 shellfire June 2 73° 16' w Herbert L. Pratt (A) tanker S,372 mined June 3 2 1/2 miles from Overfall Light 38° 2 1 N Samuel c. Menqel {A) schooner 915 bombed June 3 73° 23 1 w 370 35' N EQ.ward R._~aird, Jr. {A) schooner 279 bombed June 4 74° 40' w 37° 12 1 N Eidsvold (Nor.) steamer 1,570 shellfire June 4 73° 55' w 129 11'1'1'111 GROSS HOW NAME & REGISTER CLASS TONNAGE DESTROYED DATE POSITION 360 30 1 N Harpathian (Br.) steamer 4,588 torpedoed June 5 75° 00' w 360 35' N Vinland (Nor.) steamer 1,143 bombed June 5 730 58' w 36° 16' N Pinar del Rio (A) steamer 2,504 shellfire June 8 73° 50' w 36° 25' N Vindeggan (Nor.) steamer 3,179 bombed June 10 73o 20 1 w 36° 30' N. Henrik Lund (Nor) steamer 4,322 bombed June 10 71° 29' w 37° 30' N Samoa (Nor.) bark 1,138 shellfire June 14 72° 10 1 w 38° 02 1 N Kringsjaa {Nor.) bark 1,750 shellfire ~June 14 71° 40' w 38° 30., N Dwinsk (Br.) steamer 8,173 torpedoed June 18 61° 15 1 w 39° 30' N Chiliex (Bel.) steamer 2,966 bombed June 22 53° 40' w 39° 30 1 N Augwald (Nor.) steamer 3,406 shellfire June 23 53° 42' w ##### ## # e e e 130 I APPENDIX C I LIST OF CLASSIFIED STRUCTURES e ASSATEAGUE NATIONAL SEASHORE 131 form 10-445 l . STATE Virginia HISTORIC AMER IC At~ BUILDINGS SURVEY (5/ 62) COUNTY Accomack INVENTORY TOWN X VICINITY 10 miles NE 2. NAME Pope's Island Life-Saving Stati STREET NO. X of Chincoteague DA TE OR PERIOD 1878-79 ORIGINAL OWNER u.s. Treasury Dept. STYLE Victorian ORIGINAL USE Life-Saving Station ARCHITECT U.S. Life-Saving Service PRESENT OWN ERU. s. National Park Servic BUILD ER same PRESENT USE Adandoned WALL CONSTRUCTION wood 3. FOR LIBRARY OF CONGRESS USE AA NO . OF STORIES Two (Main Building) 4. NOTABLE FEATURES, HI STORICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND DESCRIPTION OPEN TO PUBLIC 0 N"" V) Among the historical resources of Assateague Island National Seashore w are the sites of the four Life-Saving Stations, built in the period ~ <( 1875-1883. Only one of these stations has survived, and that is the one at ' V) l LL Pope's Island. The boathouse and quarters, erected in 1878-79, are an f 0 excellent example of a life-boat station. Only a few of these structures j ~ w have survived. The other station. buildings, the kitchen, stable, and J: V) storehouse (all built before 1930) complement the station and must be pre z served. The Pope's Island Coast Guard Station was decommissioned in 1953, 0 Cl and since the storm of March 1962, the structures have deteriorated rapid!~ w Cl Unless steps are taken to stablize and restore the structures, they will Cl <( soon disappear. I~ ~~Q_ <1' cf l o I Q_ 0 z -« z 0 I <( ~ 0 LL z - -«_J 1- z UJ 5. PHYSICAL CONDITION OF ~TRUCTURF Endangered yes Interior poor Ex1erior poor ~ L!..l _J fl.. fl.. 0 ::> V> Do' ,~K-rT_C_l(-f.M-1 ~ 6. LOCATION MAP (Plan Optional) · 7 . PHOTOGRAPH. 3. PUBLISHED SOURCES (Author. Title, Pages) · NAME, ADDRESS AND Tl TLE OF RECORDER INTERVIEWS, RECORDS, PHOTOS, ~TC. Mr. Edwin c. Bearss Bearss, General Back round Stud an Historian H!storical Base Map, NPS, 1969; Perso all Office of Archeology and Histori Interview Norman Jones with Bearss, Preservation ec, 13, 1 968. DATE OF RECORD Dec. 1968 Form 10-445 1. STATE Virginia HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILD! NGS SURVEY {5/62) COUNTY Accomack INVENTORY TOWN X VICINITY 6 miles s of 2. NAME Assateague Beach Coast Guard STREET NO. X Chincoteague Station DATE OR PERIOD 1922 ORIGINAL OWNER l:J.S. Treasury Dept. s TYL E Creek a.vi val ORIGINAL usE coast Guard Lifeboat Sta. ARCHITECT U.S. Coast Guard PRESENT owN ER National Park Service BUILD ER same PRESENT USE Storage WALL CONSTRUCTION wood 3. FOR LIBRARY OF CONGRESS USE BBB NO. OF STORIES Two (Main Building) 4. NOTABLE FEATURES, HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND DESCRIPTION OPEN TO PUBLIC No UJ N The Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station was erected in 1922 to ;;:; w replace the 1875-76 structure on Toms Cove. The extension of the Toms :;; < Cove Hook had made the task of launching the power and surfboats from the "'u.. old station too time-consuming. The Assateague Beach Station is a good 0 example of a facility of this period located on a cove, bay or sound. This I- I.LI was opposed to a station, such as Pope's Island, located on a beach. w J: During storms, in answering calls for assistance, it was frequently im "'z possible for crews of beach stations to launch their surfboats through the 0 0 breakers, while Coast Guardsmen posted at a station, such as Assateague w 0 Beach, could take their craft out through the comparatively calm waters 0 < of Toms Cove. w al This station was decommissioned on January 17, 1967, and turned over >-..;: ~ to the National Park Service. As the other structures, the wharf, walks, boathouse, tower, watertank, and garage, complement the station, they must "'J: Q. be preserved. I ~ ci I- 0 ::i: Q. 0 z < z 2 I- ~ ~ :L 0 u.. ~ ...I < I- z I.LI S. PHYSICAL CONDITION OF STRUCTURE Endangered no Interior good Exterior good w~ ...I Q. Q. ::::> "' /sT~T1, iowu. o o f l•:irla.N D Land Classification It is the recommendation of the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation that certain lands in Assateague Island National Seashore be designated Class VI. Lands within the Park recommended for designation as Class VI Lands are: I (a) The ground on which is located the structures of the Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station(1922-196~ and the site of the Seaboard Oil and Guano Company (1912-1916)0 Using as reference U.S.G.S. Quadrangle, Chincoteague East, 1965, the boundary of the land recommended for designation as Class VI should begin on Toms Cove at the old boundary of the reservation, J west of the wharf; then running south with the boundary 1,500 feet; then on a line due east to the east boundary of the former Coast Guard Reservation; then northeast 2,500 feet, reaching Toms Cove at a point 400 feet east of the ruins of the Seaboard Oil and Guano Company plant; and returning to the point of beginning to include the cove fronting the beach to a distance of 200 feet. {b) The ground on which is located the structures of the Pope's Island Coast Guard Station (1878-1953)0 Using as re ference U.S.GoSo Quadrangle, Whittington Point, 1964, the boundary of the land recommended for designation as Class VI should begin on the Atlantic Ocean at a point 1,200 feet south 134 of the Virginia-Maryland boundary; then northeast 1,600 feet to the Virginia line; then southwest 1,200 feet; then southeast 1,600 feet to the Atlantic Ocean; and then northeast with the beach to the beginningo Included within this tract is the reservation of the former Pope's Island Coast Guard Station. (c) At Green Run Inlet there are three sites that should be designated Class VI Lando They are: the site of the Green Run Inlet Coast Guard Station (1876-1937); the Green Run Inlet Cemetery; and the site of Scott's Ocean House. These structures and cemetery are located on the Assateague Island NS Historical Base Map. The site of the Green Run Coast Guard Station also appears on u.s.G.S. Quadrangle, Whittington Point, 1964. The I land involved would be limited and would include only the sites. (d) At North Beach there is one site that should be designated Class VI Lando This is the site of the North Beach Coast Guard Station, 1883-1952. This structure is located on the Assateague Island NS Historical Base Map, and its site also appears on U.S.G.S. Quadrangle, Tingles Island, 19640 ## 135 BIBLIOORAPHY I. Primary Sources Manuscript Material Clipping File, Assateague, National Archives, RG 12. Lighthouse Letters, July 12, 1831-May 6, 1833, 5th Auditor's Office, National Archives, RG 26. Log of U-117, National Archives, Microcopy T-1022. Log of U-151, National Archives, Microcopy T-1022. Patent Records for Land, Maryland Land Office, Annapolis Md. Worcester County Deed Books, County Courthouse, Snow Hill, Md. Published Documents Acts of the Maryland Assembly, November Sessioni 1799, ·' Batlimore, 1800. Annual Reports of the Operations of the United States Life saving Service for the .years from 1876-1915, Washington, D.C., 1876-1915. Archives of Maryland, Proceedings of the Council, 1667-1687-8, William H. Browne (ed.) Baltimore, 1877. Report of a Commission for Survey of the Sounds ••• , Annapolis, 1834. Report of the Officers Constituting the Light-House Board a •• , February s, 18Sl, Executive Documents 1 6, Washington, 1852. Virginia State Papers, 1782-1784, Richmond, 1785. 136 Manuscript Maps Boye, Herman, "Map of the State of Virginia," Richmond, 1826. Burr, David H., "Map of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, Exhibiting the Post Offices, Post Roads, Canals., Railroads, & 'y, 11 Richmond, 1832. Lake, Griffing, and Stevenson, Atlas of Worcester County, Baltimore, 1877. Lloyd, J. T., "Lloyd's Official Map of the State of Virginia, from Actual Surveys," Richmond, 1862. Lucus, Fielding, "Map of Maryland," Baltimore, 1852. Martinet's Atlas" of Maryland, Baltimore, 1866. Martinet's "Map of Maryland," 1885. II. SECONDARY SOURCES Local Histories Ames, Susie M., Studies of the Virginia Eastern Shore in the Seventeenth Century, Richmond, 1940. Charles Clark (ed.), The Eastern Shore of Maryland and Vir ginia, 3 vols., New York, 1950. Turman, Nora M., The Eastern Shore of Virginia, 1603-1964, Onancock, Va., 1964. Whitelaw, Ralph T., Virginia's Eastern Shore: A History of Northampton and Accomack Counties, 2 vols., Gloucester, Mass., 1968. Wise, Jennings C.~ Ye Kingdome of Accawmacke on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, Richmond, 1911. 137 Articles in Periodicals Covington, Harry F., "The Discovery of Maryland or Verrazzano's Visit to the Eastern Shore," The Maryland Historical Magazine, .!.£, No. 3. Marye, William B., "The Sea Coast of Maryland," The Maryland Historical Magazine, 40, No. 2. , "More Light on the History of Maryland's Sea------coast," The Maryland Historical Magazine, 40, No. 4o General Histories Bruce, Philip Ao, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century ••• , 2 vols., New York, 18950 Special Studies Truitt, Reginald T., High Winds ••• High Tides, Annapolis, 19670 J Naval Histories Clark, William Bell, When the U-Boats Came to America, Boston, 1929. James, Henry J., German Subs in Yankee Waters: First World ~' New York, 1940. Karig, Walter, Burton, Earl, and Freeland, Stephen L., Battle Report: The Atlantic War, New York~ 1946. Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Battle of the Atlantic, September 1939-May 1943, Boston, 1950. --~~~-' The Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Nayy in the Second World War, Boston, 1963. Thomas, Lowell, Raiders of the Deep, New York, 1928. 138 Personnel Interviews Mrs. Addie Carey, 96 years old, of Berlin, Md. Mrs. Indiana Henry, the widow of Dale Henry, of Berlin, Md. Mr. Norman Jones, retired Coast Guardsman, of Chincoteague, Va. Judge Walter Price, 103 North Morris Street, Snow Hill, Md. Mr. James Quillen, 85 years old, Friendship Road, Berlin, Md. Miss Melvinia Shepherd, local historian, Chincoteague, Va. Dr. Reginald Truitt of Stevensville, Md. Mr. Ralph Watson, 107 West Martin Street, Snow Hill, Md. Newspapers Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia, Pa.) I Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertizer (Baltimore, Md.) Saulsbury Times #### 139 e e e J~r rwr=sr ~:.:Lo~ PLATE I Historical Base Map Assateague Island National Seashore -- --, '~...,, I ...... ::: t.~~ ..... ~ JHANl> .... ,.__- ~~ ... .,. lJ. """ •-;:::T I~, '"'""" ... , /;::"",. '16<\t .. ST<\'TJOV ~ ~ " ~ HISTORICAL BASE MAP A ':.SATf AGVE ISLAND N'ATIONAL SEASHORE 1 i , !CA \1 "ta• ~"HU~ C.QNv•NTttll\J'it. 'Y/1eoL~ \/lllA.G-£ s. ~ CiMETJFRllS TrLrP"MoHI LI~~ • 'bWhi.HJG!.- • ~ COf\'ST 1;.VA1':t> STA.Tk,)H'S. RO.-..bS ( Hf!..To~1c) scorr\ OCEAN HoVU • 7'o.•:P~ (Nbw- Hl.S.TOlltlC) BRl-tlGf,S (llOW*Hl~TOltlC.) ...... F'l~H F"-'CTO~l5'.S. •... LICHrHousr 0 ·~'D.\ay-H'.'\Tf eovW"DMnH -~li(ST J-l\T!NT$ ~ 0 t4 ~ .. ,~.,;:'{·~ Q ...~r>,. {, J.. ~ ,. ,. J.. "jir..INiA _t""'_!:'1L~------ ~ () ...~ ,• ,.. ,<· ' ,•' I I " 1· ~ ~ {, " ,. :.- t,..... J.. ... / '- ...... --.-_ .· ,...... ,. ., "U~T ...... rH-e .· / 11>1 , .... / /; i// 1.~? ··! ~.;'l I~ t~T I ·s~•o~•t>" 011.. .-...ib G1.1""10 (O. co..... A .... "r •«o"''fl\'lt\ ~.,...... <.I ...., ...O~ '0.jlUT • .,... ,,._b (l,~'1.-1, .. 'J) I / 2\1.. ... ~ '·-~-~~ e e e PLATE II North Beach Coast Guard Station, circa 1920, from files Assateague Island NS. ·:' • , e I ·'\ \ \.. ' e e e Mi fA'!W&l!? ~"'~·· PLATE III Crew of the Pope's Island Life-Saving Station, circa 1910, from Norman Jones Collection. Norman Jones has identified No. 1 surfmen as . Daniel Birch, No. 2 surfman as William Booth, No. S surfman as Elmer Merritt, and No. 6 surfman as Charles c. Jones. e e e PLATE IV Front Elevation 0£ Pope's Island Coast Guard Station, circa 1925, from Norman Jones' Collection. j I "rl't....· ' :-: # e I e e e PLATE V West Elevation of Boathouse and Kitchen of Pope's Island Coast Guard Station, circa 1930, courtsey of Norman Jones. e ' e eaJIBll e PLATE VI Crew of Assateague Beach Life-Saving Station in Front of Boathouse, circa 1905, from Norman Jones Collection. H > w H ~ PLATE VII Assateague Light, circa 1890, from Norman Jones Collection. e e\1111111 e PLATE VIII Wharf at the Seaboard Oil and Guano Company, circa 1915, files Assateague Island NS. H H H > w f-1 j 0... e e e ..-w:rwew· ~*$pt";-.'-"\ PLATE IX Oil Tanks at the Seaboard Oil and Guano Company, circa 1915, from files Assateague Island NS. >< H e e - ~''~, PLATE X Employees and Structures of Seaboard Oil and Guano Company, circa 1915, files Assateague Island NS. I e -,',-·,. - PLATE XI Seaboard Oil and Guano Company, circa 1915, files Assateague Island NS. e e e '~ ~' PLATE XII Keeper's Quarters, Assateague Light, part of this structure built in 1833, remodeled and enlarged in 1892-93. Photograph circa 1915, files Assateague Island NS. ~~::. ~~ e e ~,;.~, e .... J'fiN, PLATE XIII Assateague Village Schoolhouse, built 1890, photograph circa 1910, from files Assateague Island NS. I \